Higher Education And COVID-19

Context: Higher education institutes demand policy prioritisation to adapt to the challenges of pandemic.

Measures taken by the UGC: It recommended -

• Constituting a task force and setting up helplines.
• Roping in counsellors and mentors for providing mental health support and enabling the well­ being of all stakeholders.
• Creating a team of well­informed volunteers trained in life skills, including the NCC and the NSS.
• State governments estimate and prepare for the required procurement of essentials, such as disinfectants and face masks, in each of their districts and zones in consultation with higher education institutes; it also asked them to draw out a plan for distribution.
• Higher education institutes to set up on­campus facilities for the isolation of symptomatic persons and for quarantining of those who were in contact with infected persons.

Issues associated campuses of higher education institutes amidst pandemic

• Policy neglect: Lack of serious consideration for the safety of campuses as University Grants Commission (UGC) and at State level, respective Education Departments.
  • UGC guidelines did not mention means and mechanisms for training the workforce for specialised tasks.
• Loss of the national intellectual capital and scholarship: Highlighted by the reports of deaths of several teachers.
• Abysmal financial state: Especially in state-run universities, combined with a lack of will on the part of State governments already overwhelmed by vaccination drive, has exacerbated the situation.
  • Explicit budgetary allocations for higher education institutes for COVID-19 management were found to be missing in States’ annual budgets.

Way forward

• Inculcating COVID-19-appropriate behaviour: Besides classrooms and laboratories, the current setting needs to be replaced in campuses that house hostels, libraries, common rooms-cum-washrooms, canteens, auditoriums, gymnasiums, etc.
• Provide financial assistance: Incumbent upon UGC to direct State governments to provide financial assistance to higher education institutes for managing COVID-19 crisis.
  • Resources could come from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2021-22: Which was released at the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs much before the normal schedule.