SSC results imbroglio
With the cancellation of the SSC exams, and justifiably so, the Goa board has worked out a comprehensive policy of student assessment to arrive at the year end result. However, it has put guidelines and checks that limit a school’s performance to the best of its last three years’ results at the Goa Board. Now, here is where the catch is. If a school had 100 per cent results in any of the last three years, it ensures that the present batch too will have a cakewalk and all students will be covered in that percentage mark.
On the other hand, those schools which could not perform well in the last three years’ board exams will have to moderate the results in a manner that the school’s performance is consistent with the earlier ones. But the point to be noted here is that the present SSC batch has come on mass promotion and has a component of those students who would have otherwise been detained in the ninth standard, and possibly some in the tenth as well.
So, effectively, these students are enjoying the fruit of the tree of excellent performance planted by the earlier batch which had reached class X solely on merit. The parents are concerned that the same is denied to the students of the schools with performance below the best, as a segment of these students will have to be kept behind to match the not so good results in the past years.
A remedial measure in this situation will be to keep it open to schools to upload the marks scored by the students at different internal exams sans moderation instead of aligning it with any past reference point. This will give a fair chance to all the students and only the extreme cases will need improvement.
Shipra Gracias, Chicalim
The power of vaccines during pandemic
Look no further than the fact that 99.6% of the fatalities recorded during the second wave in Goa were unvaccinated to understand the importance of a quick rollout of universal vaccination. Data accessed from the Directorate of Health Services has revealed that 90% of those who had succumbed to Covid during the April-June period hadn’t received a single dose despite several of them being eligible for it; of those only 0.4% had received both doses. The unvaccinated dead also included the younger lot for whom unfortunately eligibility had not been announced.
Although the fully jabbed may continue to get infected but the severity of the infection will be lesser, owing to production of antibodies; also fatalities will be near zero. Vaccines can never be foolproof but the odds of cases turning serious and requiring hospitalisation would be drastically reduced. For added proof of the effectiveness of vaccines, do consider that at the peak of the second wave there was nil mortality and almost no severe infection amongst doctors and other healthcare workers who had received both doses.
On the flip side it is also to be understood that the vax is not a silver bullet, people should always wear double masks, use sanitiser frequently and maintain physical distance to the extent possible, at least till such time till the scourge has reduced considerably so as to be largely irrelevant like a seasonal flu.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Awareness campaigns during pandemic
The chief ministers of various States in the country are trying their level best to stop the spread of Covid-19. However, lockdowns and curfews will not help bring down the number of Covid-19 patients.
It is important to raise awareness among people about the dangers of the virus. People should also be taught how the virus can spread from person to person and how dangerous it is if they do not follow SOPs and wear masks.
Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai
Ration scheme for the migrants
The Union government and State governments should identify migrant labourers and provide them timely welfare during the pandemic. There is still lot of migrant labourers who don’t have ration cards. The union government Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which covers 80 crore poor identified as beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, to help the poor tide over the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic. There should be a mechanism to identify and provide food for people who do not have ration cards.
When the government had imposed lockdown last year to prevent the spread of Covid-19, it had a brutal impact on millions of India’s informal workers. Left overnight without the daily wage jobs that sustained them, many of them did not have the documents necessary to access social security benefits, most notably, subsidised food through the public distribution system.
There is no proper data of how many workers have registered under the Inter State Migrant Workers Act. Under this law, establishments or contractors hiring migrant workers are supposed to register and provide them with facilities such as displacement allowance, journey allowances, full payment of wages, a suitable place for the accommodation, medical facilities and more. These exclusions also from tribal and backward areas along with inadequate support from the government has made survival a struggle in cities for workers.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Vande Bharat, salute to Air India pilots
When my family member was ill last year, I was fortunate enough to get a seat in one of the Vande Bharat repatriation flight whose dedicated pilot flew me to Goa to look after my family member. With the Covid-19 infection fear, if the pilots had refused to fly, I would have been stranded to go home so also would thousands of passengers who travelled home in these flights for emergency reasons. Indeed these pilots came to our rescue.
It was sad to read in the news that around 17 very young and senior pilots of Vande Bharat repatriation flights to India succumbed to the virus when operating these flights. Their little children asking their mothers when their dads will be back home to be with them. May their souls rest in peace.
Still worse it was to see that these pilots were not insured by the company and thus have to leave their wives, children and family members to fend for themselves. We hope that the central government will insure the pilots who have given yeomen service to the nation and its citizens. Also we hope that the government will try to adequately compensate the family members of the pilots who lost their lives to the infection on their duty.
We have to remember that due to their selfless and humane service thousands of lives were saved and cared for during the pandemic and still doing. All pilots who lost their lives and those risking their lives even now flying the Air-India flights, you deserve our salute of respect and gratitude.
Jo Dias, Chandor
Djoko deserves praise for comeback win
Novak Djokovic deserves encomiums on scripting a remarkable come-from-behind victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the French Open final. The World No 1 dropped the first two sets but got his act together in the next three with a brilliant display of mental toughness, skill and poise. But one must spare a thought for Tsitsipas for putting up a valiant fight, and the Greek should have no regrets of losing to a better player.
Djokovic joins an elite club comprising Roy Emerson and Rod Laver as the only men in the game’s history to win all four Grand Slams at least twice. The ‘Super Serb’ is also just one behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles. More power to his elbow!
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
