Covid-19 Pandemic is probably one of the biggest disasters after World War Two. The entire world suffered partial or complete lockdown. A virus that cannot be even seen via a normal microscope stopped the entire world.
It is anticipated, Novel Corona Virus, SARS-CoV-2originated in bats and jumped to humans at one of the open-air markets of Wuhan – a cosmopolitan town of China in December 2019. Due to its rapid infectious nature, the virus started spreading from one to other humans rapidly, and gradually the virus was spread to each of the countries. World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020. People across the world tried to return to their homes. Due to interaction with people in airport/ rail station and public transport the virus was spreading exponentially. On January 27, 2020, the first case of Covid-19 was detected in India. The patient was a 20-year-old lady from Trissur, Kerala. In our state West Bengal, the first case of the same disease was detected on 17th March 2020. The situation in India was gradually getting worsened from that day. Considering the scenario, the honorable Prime Minister of India first declared a Janta Curfew (People’s Curfew) to on 22nd March Sunday followed by a Complete Lockdown in the country from the midnight of 25th March 2020.
From that time the entire world started suffering from fear. The situation bore a resemblance to the great novel “The Plague” by French novelist Albert Camus. Like the novel, the government organized special words in the hospitals for the Covid patients but all the beds were getting filled within few weeks. Doctors were confused about how to handle the situation. Homes were quarantined. People stopped socializing. Public transports were completely closed and the roads were empty. None dared to go out of the home except those who had to go to purchase medicine and bare minimum food. But even in those cases, police asked them to stop. Everybody was frightened.
A huge number of offices were completely stopped their business. As a result, a large number of people lost their jobs. To curb the spread of the coronavirus most of the offices asked their employees to work from home via online media. Even the academic sector was also started running online.
But it created several issues, especially for the school students. All stakeholders, like students, guardians, teachers were in trouble. First, the internet connection was not stable to give or follow the lessons, secondly, all the families were not well off to provide smartphone or tablet to their children, thirdly, school students were feeling severe depression without the physical presence of their beloved friends even they were getting unfit without any physical activity, Moreover, it was hardly possible for the parents to monitor kids to prevent possible misuse of internet. Somehow the educational system was running with hiccups.
Unlock process was partially started from the mid of July 2020. Different sectors were reopening. But educational sectors were still functioning online. The Central Government of India asked State Governments to take decisions about the same. Though some of the states decided to start classes on school campuses it caused a sudden hike in the number of daily affected patients. Other states were skeptical whether to reopen the school campuses or not.
Finally, in February 2021, the school campuses in West Bengal were set to reopen for offline classes. Considering the board examination, the pupils of class IX, X, XI, XII were asked to attend classes from school.
To observe the process of reopening the school campus, I visited to a renowned and reputed government school of College Street (the education hub of Kolkata) where students belonging to middle or lower-middle-class families usually come. Moreover, I was interested to check, how a government school be compliant with the Covid-19 protocols with limited resources.
Visiting the school first I noticed a tense scenario. Haphazard classrooms without students mirrored the insanity and fear in the educational system of the society. Tensed teachers were discussing among themselves to make guidelines for adhering to the Covid-19 protocols. A parent-teacher meeting was scheduled prior to the reopening date. In the said meeting, the school authority proclaimed the rules to follow. Guardians were also naturally scared and quizzical about their kids.
Finally, the D-day came. First, the school campus was completely disinfected and students started coming. The joy and excitement of their eyes were shadowed by the fear of being affected by the deadly virus. Probable risk caused by disinfecting chemicals also frightened them.
At last, the classes were started. Gradually the teenage students started overcoming the fear and at last, the student life got back to the normal rhythm.
In this photo story, the process of reopening the school and the way to get back to normal rhythm from fear has been shown.
About Amlan Chakraborty
I am Amlan Chakraborty from Kolkata. By profession, I am a solution architect of Tata Consultancy Services. Apart from my job I am a traveler, travel writer, blogger, and photographer. I use photography as a medium of expressing my views about nature, people, cultural and socio-political incidents. I was graduated from the University of Calcutta and completed Earlier, I was a painter and completed a Senior Diploma in Fine Arts from SarbabharatiyaCharu-o-KarukalaNiket.
My travelogues and photographs have been published in national media like Live History India and local newspapers and magazines like The Telegraph, EiSamay, SukhiGrihokon, Apon Path, etc.
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All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Amlan Chakraborty. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
