write a paragraph in 100 words The lessons we learnt from the pandemic.
Hints. People are made to feel it was the worst year by newspaper and television. ---- it was bad but we learnt a few lessons--- we learnt patience, new skills, and to live on bare minimum---we were spared from pollution and the importance of nature.
Answers
The whole world is witnessing a paradoxical situation where carnage in some areas is complemented by improvement in others. Most governments across the world resorted to the desperate measure of lockdown to protect lives and buy time to respond to the invisible threat. However, factors such as the time-to-market for a vaccine, and the economic and social costs of lockdown are forcing them to nudge institutions and individuals to learn to live with the virus. A key concern is whether students have learnt from this once-in-a-lifetime experience?
Many students in their final year find themselves in a state of high uncertainty, especially when their admissions or job offers have been cancelled, and the idea of a gap year is not viewed positively. The anxiety of class XII students is also understandable. What about those in between? I have been exchanging notes with over 300 engineering students about their experience during the lockdown. As expected, one of the top priorities was academic work, i.e. completing assignments/projects and preparing for exams. Others, in the order of importance, included reading books, coding, online courses and contests, social media and entertainment, household chores and spending time with family.
Not many seemed to realise that they were missing out on an opportunity to gain some invaluable experience in life skills. Even if they did, their conditioning that learning, innovating and working (LIWing) are isolated activities that happen in different institutions would have affected the quality of their experience. Let me illustrate this by reflecting on my own experience.