June 17, 2020 | Adamas University

The utility of Biomarkers Against COVID-19

Student Contributors: Ankita Mallick & Manidipa Roy, B.Tech. Biotechnology, 2^nd Year

Appreciation of biology against COVID-19:

COVID-19 highlighted the importance of biology in the field of biotechnology. It’s amazing to see how biotech companies of all sizes have put aside their primary products to shift and try to tackle coronavirus from all different angles, from therapeutics and antivirals to new types of diagnostic kits. In the current scenario, Biotechnologists are all trying to think through this COVID problem from their vantage point and seeing how quickly they can reduce this global issue by choosing an appropriate platform and switch it up to hopefully make it successful against this global pandemic disaster. One of the recent findings is the discovery of some biomarkers and their use in understanding the disease perfectly.

Biomarkers Helping to understand the mortality of COVID-19 patients:

The increasing rate of COVID-19 cases forced healthcare systems globally to make an early clinical set-up that can reduce the world’s mortality rate to some extent. Based on this pressure, the Wuhan region of China collected 485 blood samples from the positive COVID-19 patients, in search of active biomarkers that can predict the mortality rate for an infected person. Following this task, clinical machine tools confirmed three crucial biomarkers that primarily can give a clear idea of the mortality rate with an appropriate 90% fine accuracy. These three biomarkers include Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lymphocyte, and high-sensitivity-C Reactive protein (hs-CRP).
The increased amount of LDH alone play a major role that can differentiate those case that requires quick clinical importance. It has been fascinating to note that this high extent of LDH level could be correlated with high levels of tissue damages and breakdown and this is also evident in many different diseases, one of them includes pulmonary disorders such as pneumonia. Algorithms based mathematical machine model was developed for the identification purposes of these biomarkers.
For the sharpness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, serum LDH plays a crucial role as a biomarker. Hence the high measure of LDH indicates lung injury & is the most significant primary marker for pulmonary interstitial diseased patients. So, the rise in LDH range correlates with the seriousness of infection in COVID-19 patients, give a clear sign of lung injury as well as indicating mortality rate at risk.
The second biomarker is hs-CRP. The high extent of hs-CRP serves as a marker for poor clinical outlook in case of acute respiratory distress syndrome, which highlights the continual state of inflammation. Following this state of inflammation, the result is large grey-white lesions appear in the lungs of COVID-19 patients. A higher quantity of gummed secretion had also been noticed in the tissue section that over flooded from the alveoli.
Lastly, the third biomarker lymphocytes can be used as a possible choice for healing or therapeutic purposes. Clinical studies give evidence to this hypothesis. COVID-19 patients are also frequently associated with lymphopenia, which is a major risk in the case of mortality. The persistent state of lymphopenia seen in SARS-CoV-2 and also in MERS-CoV patients, due to the infiltration of lymphocytes caused by the injured alveolar epithelial cells. The most significant feature of COVID-19 is lymphopenia which is also associated with decreased count of CD4 & CD8T cells. So, in the prediction of mortality rate, lymphocytes again could play a significant role in determining the course of these particular diseases. Thus, researchers keen to take this area for further scientific investigation.

So, it can be concluded that these three specific biomarkers could be useful to predict the course of COVID-19 infection and also the associated medical complications in seriously ill patients. Thus, these clinical markers have proven to be helpful to enable the health care systems of go for early detection of the mortality rate of every single COVID-19 patient, so based on that the higher risk group can be identified easily and quickly for immediate medical attention, which in turn can decrease the rate of mortality among individuals.

Central role of metacognition in improving the academic outcome of learners in biological sciences

Background

Higher education in colleges and universities present unique challenges to students where the use of previous learning strategies in high schools may not be ideal for a desirable positive academic outcome. Students using such earlier learning strategies may think that they are working hard but may not be receiving the desired results. In higher education, apart from remembering information, students are also required to think, reflect, and interpret information and to make the information or knowledge useful or apply new knowledge in real-world scenarios. In this new environment, students would require to adapt strategies that would require students to think about their own thinking which in essence is metacognition.

Metacognition is a reflective process where a student might ask questions such as –

* What problem I need to solve?

* How can I solve a problem?

* What strategy might be most relevant to solve a problem?

* How am I doing?

* What do I need to do differently to improve or better my academic outcome?

Importance of metacognition for bioscience students

Metacognition is the process of reflecting and directing one’s thinking or processes so that students become self-reflective or self-directed or self-regulated or lifelong learners. Metacognitive skills are crucial for students pursuing higher education as well in their professional lives. It involves an assessment of one’s own learning and performance and adapting suitable strategies for academic excellence. Metacognition can not only predict outcomes of learning but also correlates with academic achievement and problem-solving skills. This is very much relevant to biological concepts which would require problem solving skills and students should adapt and identify suitable strategies for problem solving. Problem solving skills require metacognitive skills as synthesis or construction of a solution is dependent on the given information instead of relying on memory alone. Students of life sciences in the 21^st century are also required to integrate and apply knowledge and information from diverse fields and concepts which also require metacognition. Metacognition is required in complex tasks such as academic writing, presentation of scientific articles, independent projects, etc. These activities would require students to better manage and regulate their learning. A schematic diagram exhibiting the metacognitive skills that result in better academic outcome is illustrated in Figure 1.

Self-regulated learning strategies for bioscience students

To become self-directed learners, students must learn to assess demands and constraints of task, evaluate their own knowledge and skills, plan their approach, monitor progress and adjust as and when necessary. Learning to assess the task at hand is often missed or misunderstood by students. Assessing the task at hand requires students not only how to carefully read and assess the task, but also to plan and implement a suitable learning strategy and receive feedback to check accuracy of understanding of their task before they begin the work. Students often underestimate or overestimate strength and weaknesses both of which could influence the desired academic outcome. Understanding of one’s strength and weaknesses realistically enable students to formulate strategies could lead to better academic outcome. Planning appropriate strategies to complete tasks in hand can give students not only the right start but it can also improve quality of work. Continuous monitoring of understanding and performance is critical to determine if the strategy used is effective or ineffective or partially effective to achieve the desired academic outcome. Furthermore, students are required to adjust as and when necessary to retain the strategies that are effective, discard ineffective strategies and incorporate newer and better strategies to reach the desired outcome. A flow chart of how metacognitive process can be used for self-directed learning is illustrated in Figure 2.

Support of metacognitive skills in digital learning platforms

In the context of online learning and lifelong learning, students are expected to be self-regulated learners and hence the metacognition in education is more relevant in the current pandemic when there is a clear transition from physical classroom to online mode of learning. Technology driven innovative pedagogic processes can support and facilitate metacognitive learning among students. For example, a typical online peer to peer review of assessments based on certain review criteria would require a student to use metacognitive skills for assessment of academic writing. Students can also be instructed to write review of literature which would require students to read, organize and synthesize a creative work which then would facilitate metacognitive process. Use of think pair share exercises in the context of online learning enable students to collaborate in pairs or groups who then can share their ideas or reflections to a larger audience. Similarly, wikis, blogs and posts can allow students to comment and provide critique on each other’s work. Such collaborative and peer to peer learning can lead to innovative problem solving and positive academic outcome. Digital spaces allow students work to be documented and enable students to become good planners and strategists and not rely just on memory-based learning or procedural work. A schematic of metacognitive skills that can be supported in the digital learning platforms is exhibited in Figure 3.

Role of instructors in imparting metacognitive strategies

Metacognition is a vital component but often neglected in education. Using metacognitive knowledge and regulation, classrooms can be shifted from non-engaging to that of an active learning mode. It is important that students have the right tools and awareness of how to learn effectively in a college environment. Metacognition is a learned skill and may not develop on its own and is developed typically based on a long developmental process. Instructors can help students to develop metacognitive skills via clear explicit instructions on how to use metacognitive strategies. Classrooms that promote reflection, problem solving, collaborative or peer learning, peer review of assessments, writing original essays and activities that require metacognition can advance self-regulated learning behaviour in students. Learning about metacognition and developing metacognitive skills should preferably be introduced to young minds which not only positively influence their academic outcome but also equip them with tools to face life.

References

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Dang, N.V., Chiang, J.C., Brown, H.M., and McDonald, K.K. (2018). Curricular Activities that Promote Metacognitive Skills Impact Lower-Performing Students in an Introductory Biology Course. J Microbiol Biol Educ 19 DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.v19i1.1324.

Dye, K.M., and Stanton, J.D. (2017). Metacognition in Upper-Division Biology Students: Awareness Does Not Always Lead to Control. CBE Life Sci Educ 16 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.16-09-0286.

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Mynlieff, M., Manogaran, A.L., St Maurice, M., and Eddinger, T.J. (2014). Writing Assignments with a Metacognitive Component Enhance Learning in a Large Introductory Biology Course. CBE Life Sci Educ 13, 311-321 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.13-05-0097.

Sabel, J.L., Dauer, J.T., and Forbes, C.T. (2017). Introductory Biology Students’ Use of Enhanced Answer Keys and Reflection Questions to Engage in Metacognition and Enhance Understanding. CBE Life Sci Educ 16 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.16-10-0298.

Siegesmund, A. (2016). Increasing Student Metacognition and Learning through Classroom-Based Learning Communities and Self-Assessment. J Microbiol Biol Educ 17, 204-214 DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.v17i2.954.

Siegesmund, A. (2017). Using self-assessment to develop metacognition and self-regulated learners. FEMS Microbiol Lett 364 DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnx096.

Stanton, J.D., Dye, K.M., and Johnson, M. (2019). Knowledge of Learning Makes a Difference: A Comparison of Metacognition in Introductory and Senior-Level Biology Students. CBE Life Sci Educ 18, ar24 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.18-12-0239.

Stanton, J.D., Neider, X.N., Gallegos, I.J., and Clark, N.C. (2015). Differences in metacognitive regulation in introductory biology students: when prompts are not enough. CBE Life Sci Educ 14 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.14-08-0135.

Tanner, K.D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. CBE Life Sci Educ 11, 113-120 DOI: 10.1187/cbe.12-03-0033.

WHITHER JOURNALISM AMID COVID-19 AND THE ROAD AHEAD

We all have been hearing about news organizations from across the spectrum cutting salaries and firing journalists. While Covid-19 has had disastrous impact on the global economy as a whole, the news industry seems to have taken the biggest hit. Organizations such as The Times of India, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Dainik Bhaskar and The Quint are some examples where salary cuts and retrenchments have happened. In fact, we shall be able to understand the scale of the crisis if we look at a probable number given by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS). The society, which has nearly 1,000 publishers under its umbrella, said that the industry is estimated to bear a loss of nearly $2 billion in the next six to seven months.

On the face of it though, it should appear that Covid-19 is a particularly opportune moment for news businesses as people locked down would have more time and propensity to consume news content. However, the equation is not that simple. We have to look at it a little deeper to understand the rot.

To start with, let us look at the good old print news industry – newspapers and magazines. How much do we buy a newspaper for? We buy a single issue of a newspaper for Rs. 3 at times; sometimes we buy it for Rs. 4 and the maximum that we spend on it is Rs. 5. However, all costs included, it takes at least Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 to produce a single issue of a newspaper. Therefore, where does the rest of the money come from? Obviously, it comes from advertisements. But, this is exactly where the problem lies. When the economy is so bad and people are cutting down their expenses, most of the business organizations are practically bleeding. The first thing that these organizations have done is cutting corners. When business organizations economize, the first casualty is advertising. Therefore, hardly any advertisement is coming for the newspapers and news magazines. Thus, there is no money and this is making the print news organizations to shut down in a jiffy.

In fact, experts harbour the view that the death of the print media, which was already on the death bed even before Covid-19 struck, has been quicken by the advent of the pandemic. Anto T Joseph, formerly the Managing Editor of DNA, said during a recent online conference that the growth figures of most of the renowned newspapers in India paint a very grim story.

What about the news channels then? Well, the scene is not too different there as well! News channels hardly make any profit out of subscription payments, which are miniscule. Most of the money hopelessly comes from advertisements and advertisements have been stopped by most companies now.

Now, a lot of people are mistakenly pinning their hopes on the digital media thinking that digital media would eventually rationalize the situation and many journalists would go digital. If we look at the business model though, we shall be able to find that the news portals don’t get any money from people reading the news on the portal, which is practically free. All that the portals make is from digital advertisements that have also dried up subject to the economic downturn. Additionally, the portals pay a large part of their advertising revenues to the third party distributors like Google and Facebook. Therefore, all these talk about digital transformation of the news industry is a lot of hooey.

Where does it then leave the hardworking journalists, who are not only grappling with the possibility of contacting Covid-19 in the field but also with the distinct specter of losing their employment? While journalism still might survive Covid-19, there is very little possibility that it would be able to survive any more future disaster. The industry needs to change its business model and soon. The way out is to make the news consumers understand the value of good journalism. Instead of money flowing in from the industry that makes news dependent on corporate entities, the money needs to flow from the pockets of the consumers.

While in the print industry, the costs of newspapers need to be substantially enhanced, paywalls should be the way forward in digital journalism. Most of the news platforms need to shift to the Newslaundry model, although its success can always be questioned. However, for such a thing to happen, the industry has to rally together and stand united and make sure that corporate interests do not eventually drown the call of the hour.

During the recently held #MediaNext 2020 that was organized by the Kolkata-based Adamas University, the celebrated rural journalist P. Sainath, who is also the recipient of the highly prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, said that popular media has reduced itself to a mere revenue stream sans any humane considerations. If we look at what Sainath iterated, we shall be able to appreciate that his statement is also indicative of the rot that popular media has created subject to its over-dependence on advertisements. It has indeed become important for news consumers to understand the simple fact that news can never be free and unbiased unless they start paying for what they are getting.

Govindraj Ethiraj, the founder of such fake news busting websites as Boom and FactChecker, endorsed the view that mainstream media has lost much of its credibility. While speaking at #MediaNext 2020, Govindraj went to the extent of saying that if an instant poll is taken vis-à-vis the credibility of news reports published by the mainstream media, most of the people would consider it inauthentic and non-credible.

As we grapple with serious credibility issues as far as the mainstream media goes, in all probabilities, the post-Covid scenario is going to throw open there different trends:

Consolidation is going to be the order of the day. A lot of news organizations will merge will each other to form giant news entities. While the dot-com bubble saw the springing up of a number of media organizations in the late nineties of the last century and the early years of the current century, the economic downturn that is going to mark the entire globe for the next two years will see the closure of many media organizations.
News media is going to see the exponential growth of subscription-based business model and will increasingly reduce its dependence on advertising revenue. This, in turn, would make journalism free and objective again. With consumers increasingly funding the news media expenditures, corporate entities will have significantly less control over editorial functions.
Last but not the least, a good number of independent news media ventures are going to spring up that would primarily function in the digital mediascape. Multimedia storytelling and convergence would become the new normal. This would transform the news consumption habits of people. Subject to an increasing internet penetration and data set to become a fundamental right, an overwhelming majority of the news consumers would consume their daily dose of news on mobile devices.

However, these are just predictions as nobody knows when the pandemic would be over and when normal life would resume. However, what can be predicted with some certainty is that the business model of news media is going to transform.

Social media for advertising

COVID-19 has severe effects almost on the entire human establishment leaving few minor areas with minimum damages. The damages are not only on physical health but this virus has also affected the cognitive health of humankind. People are forced to stay indoors and quarantined where it is in our nature to socialize and over the centuries it became one of our preliminary needs. Like we cannot think of leaving without fulfilling our ever defined basic needs of food, water, shelter, and clothing on an everyday basis, the restrictions were never meant to put down on our social activities. This virus hit on our social gathering and forced us to stay quarantined for months. Researchers have predicted this mental fatigue that we might encounter during this quarantine period and also recommended a host of remedies for them. Many of the remedies recommended investing this time in productive works like reading, writing, and honing personal skills. This will not only divert the attention towards the productive activities but also keep the attention rooted so that it does not get fractured or hopped around the corners where it might bring back negative emotions.

The situation is similar to the advertising industry. The global pandemic has forced many organizations to slash down their budget on marketing and promotion including a major cut on the advertising. The reason being the stagnant condition in the production and operation of many industries that forced to bring down the budget on multiple levels. In a recent scenario, where a decline has also been witnessed in online advertisements has affected the industry as well where the number of advertisements on social media has reduced to a great level. While the advertisement has always been a great strength of the promotional strategies, any organization that has an online presence is almost bound to promote their brands on the social media platforms, making social media advertisements an integral part of the promotional strategies. The increasing interest and involvement on social media unlocked the doors to reach out to a large number of people at the same time even belonging from different parts of the globe. Similarly, the Return on Investment (ROI) is also being calculated for social media to keep a track of the investment made on social media platforms. N. P. Jadhav, R. S. Kamble, and M. B. Patil proposed an equation to calculate the ROI for social media that would help to keep an eye on social media expenditure and investments.

Social media return- social media investment

Social media ROI= —————————————————————————————————————————————–

Social media investment %

Figure 1: equation proposed by N. P. Jadhav, R. S. Kamble and M. B. Patil to calculate ROI for social media

Investing in social media promotion might be a clever option especially during this global pandemic when most of the traditional mediums are going low with the advertisement expenditure. While the cost of promotion on social media platforms is relatively lower and flexible enough, it allows even the small and medium scale entrepreneurs can easily afford to publicize their products and services on social media. There are tracking mechanisms to trace out the reach of the advertisements on social media to evaluate the performances of the advertisement campaigns which is a difficult task for outdoor advertisements. Social media posts also allow imposing reactions in the form of ‘like’, ‘love’, ‘simile’, and similar to understand the reactions of the viewers while enable them to share and re-share the content on their timelines and groups and pages. The Comment facility works as a detailed analysis of the consumer’s reactions to the contents shared by the organizations and often helps the researchers to bring out the essentials from them. The recommendations coming from the comment section are not a rare sight that viciously helps the developers and marketers to improve on their production and promotional strategies. Like the beta testing of the websites which preliminary works for the developers to signify the consumer reaction and level of satisfaction towards the product or service, some organizations prefer to run the campaign for a shorter period to test out the consumer’s reaction on them to launch it for a longer period and a greater market diameter. This doesn’t not only provide a brief forecasting about the market and their probable reaction on the promotion but also end up saving cast and preventing damages to the product or service. These beta testing often produce the changes identified by the views or users that the developers failed to incorporate in the first place that helps out in making a near-perfect solution for the consumers.

Every social media is different from others and caters to the need of its users therefore the promotional strategy for different social media should be different depending on the requirement of the marketers. While deciding upon the promotional strategies, we should also look out for the basic functions of social media as some of them are primarily for sharing pictures, some are dominant in sharing video and some hosts all kinds of content into it. Marketers should design the campaign aligning with the basic nature of social media and measure the outcome based on similar parameters. The best part of the social media has probably been realized during this global pandemic when the physical gathering has been restricted, encouraged the marketers to go online with their offerings while using innovative ways to showcase their product or services, and what could be a better option than reaching out to the mass market through the social media!

Teaching Learning and its Evaluation through a standardized test

In today’s world everything is more systematized , scientific and objectivity is being maintained . Teaching learning system is not an exception to it . The educationists are taking care of it and are more concerned about it .Teaching learning is as such not restricted to only teaching and learning rather it involves diagnosing , counseling , analyzing etc . But before doing all these it proper evaluation is required which involves developing various types of tests and administering it on the students to measure their achievements , learning difficulties and accordingly provide required services . So in teaching learning process Test occupies an important place . It is not an easy task to construct a perfect test . It has some characteristics that one has to follow while developing a Test . The followings describe some of the important characteristics of a good test.

Characteristics of a good Test :

Test in Education implies a set of questions . Framing a set of questions as per the instructional objectives is not an easy task . While developing a Test the following characteristics should be kept in mind .

Reliability :

Reliability is the consistency of a Test . If a test is used over and over again and gives the same result it is said to be a reliable one .Reliability of a test means the test is trustworthy .

Types of Reliability :

The following are different types of reliability –

Test- Retest reliability –This is a very simplest method of determining reliability . The same test is applied to the same group of population twice with a time gap . The result of the sets of score are to be correlated . If the coefficient of correlation is high then the test is said to be a reliable one .
Split-half Method: In split half method the same test is divided into two same equal appearing parts . The results of the two parts are correlated by using Spearman Brown formula .

Parralel form method : It is also called as the equivalent form method of determining reliability . In this type of reliability two equal form of test is prepared and administered to the same population within a short period of time .The test results are being correlated and the reliability is to be found out .
Kuder Richardson 20 Formula (KR-20) : This is used to calculate for the reliability of the test in a dichotomous item. The reliability is calculated by applying KR-20 formula .

Validity :

The validity of a test is truthfulness of a test. It is how well a test measures what it appears to be measured .This is one of the important characteristics of a good test . The test must measure what it supposed to measure and not any other characteristics or trait .

Types of Validity :

There are different types of validity as discussed below –

Content Validity:

Content validity measures how well the test items are the true representative of the content . Content Validity is the most important type of validity which can be achieved through a careful observation of the test content.

Construct Validity:

Construct is a psychological trait or quality . It refers to the extent to which a test confines a specific theoretical trait and it overlaps with some of the other aspects of validity. It is based on the degree to which the items in a test reflect the important aspects of the theory on which the test is based on.

Concurrent Validity:

This is also called as criterion validity . It measures how well a new test is comparable with the already existing one . This validity is considered when we are using the test to distinguish between two or more groups of individuals whose status at the time of testing is different.

Predictive Validity:

It measures the predictive capacity of the test ; how well a test can predict the future performances. Predictive validity is the level to which a score on a test predicts some criterion measures.

Objectivity:

This is another important characteristic of a test . A test in order to be perfect must have this character of objectivity . No subjective error or personal biasness should interfere the test score or result.

Usability :

A test in order to be a good one it must have the character like usability . It implies a test perfectly constructed must be easy to use . The test must have practical value in terms of administration , economic and time factor .

Conclusion

Teacher is assigned with not only teaching but also assessing . Assessment involves construction of test . Properly constructed test can convey the meaning for which it is prepared . So this requires a hard task for the teacher . Thus the teacher must be more careful and maintained the characteristics of test construction then only a good test can be constructed to measure what it purports to measure and will fulfill the purpose .

কোভিড পরবর্তী সময়ে স্কুল-কলেজ জীবন কেমন হতে চলেছে

বিশ্ব জুড়ে চলেছে এক অতিমারী- কোভিড ! যার প্রভাব সমস্ত স্তরের মানুষের মধ্যে এক অদ্ভুত আতঙ্ক ও অনিশ্চয়তা সৃষ্টি করেছে। অভিভাবক ও শিক্ষার্থীদের জন্য কোভিড মহামারী এক অত্যন্ত কঠিন সময় তবে এই কঠিন দিনগুলি কাটিয়ে আমাদের প্রত্যেককেই স্বাভাবিক কর্মজীবনে ফিরতে হবে। আজ আমরা এই সময়ের কিছু স্বাভাবিক প্রশ্ন নিয়ে আলোচনা করব।

কবে এবং কিভাবে শিক্ষাপ্রতিষ্ঠানগুলি খুলবে?

পৃথিবী জুড়ে যে কোভিড মহামারী ছড়িয়েছে সেই দিনগুলিকে অতিক্রম করে ক্রমশ বিভিন্ন সরকারি ও বেসরকারি প্রতিষ্ঠান গুলি খুলছে। বিশ্ব জুড়ে স্কুল বন্ধের নির্দেশ কাটিয়ে প্রায় সত্তরটি দেশ স্কুল খোলার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছে।কবে ,কখন , কোন পরিস্থিতে এই সিদ্ধান্ত লাগু হবে তা কেন্দ্রীয় সরকার ও রাজ্য সরকার যৌথ আলোচনার মাধ্যমে স্থিরীকৃত হবে। এ ক্ষেত্রে আঞ্চলিক প্রশাসনের ও বিশেষ ভূমিকা থাকতে পারে।
সাধারণের স্বাস্থ্য, শিক্ষাদানের সুবিধা ও সঙ্কট , রাজনৈতিক ও সামাজিক পরিবেশ পরিস্থিতি বিচার করেই এ বিষয়ে চূড়ান্ত সিদ্ধান্ত নেওয়া হবে।

অভিভাবকদের মনে প্রথমেই যে প্রশ্ন জাগবে তা হল- আমার সন্তানের স্কুলে যাওয়া কতটা নিরাপদ?

এ বিষয়ে প্রথমেই বলা যায় শিক্ষার্থীদের জন্য যখন শিক্ষাপ্রতিষ্ঠানে সম্পূর্ণ নিরাপদ পরিস্থিতি তৈরি করা যাবে, কেবলমাত্র তখনি প্রতিষ্ঠানগুলি খোলার অনুমতি পাবে । এর জন্য যথাযথ ভাবে স্বাস্থ্যবিধি অনুযায়ী জীবাণুমুক্ত করণ করতে হবে। বিধিসম্মতভাবে পারস্পরিক দূরত্ব বজায় রাখতে হবে।ছাত্র-ছাত্রীদের ছোট ছোট দলে ভেঙ্গে সেকশন ভাগ করে ক্লাস করানোর ব্যাবস্থা করতে হবে। প্রতিটি শিক্ষার্থীর কাছে হ্যান্ড স্যানিটাইজার থাকা বাধ্যতামূলক। মুখে মাস্ক পরা আবশ্যিক।

কোভিডের ভাইরাস যাতে না ছড়ায় তার জন্য শিক্ষাপ্রতিষ্ঠানগুলি কি কি ব্যবস্থা নিতে পারে?

শিক্ষাপ্রতিষ্ঠানগুলি নিশ্চই খুলবে তবে শিক্ষার্থী , শিক্ষক , অশিক্ষক কর্মচারী ও তাদের পরিবারের সুরক্ষাও নিশ্চিত করতে হবে। এ বিষয়ে যা যা পদ্ধতি গ্রহণ করা যেতে পারেঃ

ক্লাস শুরু ও শেষের সময়সূচীর পরিবর্তন
নির্দিষ্ট সময় অন্তর হ্যান্ড স্যানিটাইজে্সনের ব্যবস্থা করা
অধিক সংখ্যক ক্লাসরুমের ব্যবস্থা করা
টিফিনের সময় যাতে নির্দিষ্ট দূরত্ব বজায় থাকে সেদিকে লক্ষ্য রাখা
বিভিন্ন শিফটে স্কুলে ক্লাস করা যাতে ক্লাসে ছাত্র সংখ্যা নিয়ন্ত্রণ করা যায়
পরিশ্রুত পানীয় জলের ব্যবস্থা করা
পরিচ্ছন্নতা সুনিশ্চিত করা
সর্বসময়ের জন্য মাস্ক ব্যবহার করতে হবে যাতে নাক ও মুখ আবৃত থাকে
শুধুমাত্র ছাত্র ছাত্রী নয় , স্কুলের সমস্ত শিক্ষক ও অশিক্ষক কর্মচারীকে যথাযথ স্বাস্থ্যবিধি পালন করতে হবে।

চিকিৎসকদের নির্দেশ এই অভ্যাসগুলিকে আমাদের প্রাত্যহিক জীবনের সঙ্গী করে ফেলা দরকার। আগামী কয়েক বছর এই ভাইরাস আমদের প্রতিনিয়ত আক্রমণ করবে তাই ব্যক্তিগত অভ্যাস ও জীবন চর্জায় যদি আমরা এই আচার গুলিকে অভ্যাসে পরিণত করতে পারি তবেই হয়ত আমাদের পরিবার তথা বৃহত্তর সমাজ সুরক্ষিত থাকতে পারবে।

দীর্ঘদিন স্কুল-কলেজ না যাওয়ার ফলে যদি আমার সন্তান পিছিয়ে পরে—

পড়াশোনার পাশাপাশি সন্তানের মানসিক স্বাস্থের প্রতিও আমাদের যত্নবান হতে হবে।দীর্ঘ কয়েক মাসের বেশি সময় ধরে সে বাড়ি থেকে বেরোয় নি, স্কুলে যায় নি, সামাজিক ব্যবহারে তার ছেদ পরেছে।খুব স্বাভাবিক ভাবেই স্কুলে ফেরার প্রাথমিক দিনগুলি হয়ত সহজ হবে না। আপনাকেও যেমন কাজে যোগ দেবার আগে নিজের মানসিক প্রস্তুতি নিতে তবে ঠিক তেমনি আপনার সন্তানের দিকেও সাহাজ্যের হাত বাড়িয়ে দিতে হবে। মনে করুন আপনার সন্তানের স্কুলে যাবার প্রথম দিন গুলির কথা। বেশিভাগ দিনই যে আপনার সাহচর্জ ছেড়ে অচেনা গন্ডিতে নিয়মের অনুশাসনের মধ্যে স্কুলে যেতে চাইত না। তখন যেমন তাকে বুঝিয়ে স্কুলে পাঠাতেন আজও আবার নতুন করে আপনার সন্তানের মনের খবর নিন। তাকে বোঝান যে স্কুলে তার সব বন্ধুরা আবার আসবে।হয়ত আগের মত এখন একসঙ্গে সকলে মিলে পায়ে পা মিলিয়ে ফুটবল খেলতে পারবে না কিন্তু এই এতদিনের নিভৃতবাসের আলাপচারিতা তো করা যাবে।

দেখবেন একটু সময় দিলেই আপনার দশ বছরের সন্তান নিজে থেকেই আবার স্কুল জীবনে ফিরে যেতে চাইবে।কোন নিয়মের ভার এখনি চাপিয়ে দেবেন না তার উপর। সময়ের সাথে একটু একটু করে দেখবেন সে এই নতুন পরিস্থিতিকে ও মেনে নিচ্ছে।কলেজে পড়া প্রাপ্ত বয়স্ক ছেলে মেয়েদের মনে করিয়ে দিন বিকেলে ক্লাসের পর কমন রুমে বসে বন্ধুদের সঙ্গে আড্ডা দেবার দিন গুলির কথা। এমনিতেই হয়ত বাইড়ে বেড়তে না পেরে তারা অনেকেই হাঁফিয়ের উঠেছে । খবর নিন তাদের মনের ও।

দীর্ঘ কঠিন সময় কাটিয়ে আমাদের প্রত্যেক্কেই কাজে ফিরতে হবে। কোভিড পুর্ব আর কোভিড পরবর্তী সময়ের মধ্যে ঘটে গেছে আমূল পরিবর্তন।সারা পৃথিবী জুড়ে শুরু হয়েছে অন-লাইন পড়াশোনার চর্চা ।তা নিয়েও ছেলে মেয়েদের মনে চলছে নানা উৎকণ্ঠা । অদূর ভবিষ্যতে হয়ত আমাদের শিক্ষা পদ্ধতি সেদিকেই পরিবর্তিত হবে, তবে এখনও ক্লাসে সামনাসামনি শিক্ষা দানের পদ্ধতিকে সম্পূর্ণ অস্বীকার করা যাচ্ছে না।তবে মানুষেরই আছে এই পরিবর্তনের সঙ্গে রঙ মিলিয়ে এগিয়ে চলার ক্ষমতা। তাই যথাযথ সচেতনতা আর অভ্যাস আমাদের এই নতুন পথ চলাকে করে তুলবে মসৃণ ও প্রবহমান। কারণ থেমে যাওয়াকে জীবন বলে না। বদলে যাওয়া পৃথিবীর প্রতিটি পরিবর্তনকে সর্বান্তকরণে গ্রহণ করাই হল বেঁচে থাকার মূল মন্ত্র।

ROLE OF TEACHERS TO TACKLE THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC- AN INSIGHT STUDY

Since the beginning of 2020, the entire world is suffering from a new viral threat viz. COVID19 which is termed as a novel virus i.e. unknown virus that is having 19 unknown varieties. It is believed to be observed first in the city of Wuhan of China for the first time in 2019 and started to spread all over the world since January,2020. Globally almost three lakhs patients have died while fifty lakhs are affected already (Source- Official site of WHO).

SOCIO POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE-

Initially, many countries headed by USA started accusing China for producing and experimenting with this novel virus and using it as prospective bio weapon, while another theory states that the infection was originated from animal flesh market in Wuhan, where Pangolin and Bat are two animals used as carriers whose flesh was improperly cooked and consumed by human beings and the disease cycle was completed. Lot of people after getting affected by this group of corona virus started travelling from China throughout the globe mainly in USA and European countries. WHO declared this as pandemic and China came out with a preventive model of lock down to keep away citizens from aerosol bound viral infection along with wearing masks, gloves, sanitization etc. The entire world started accusing China for a huge socio political economic devastation throughout the globe which has already affected many countries including India. Lot of people have lost their jobs, livelihood, occupation and even lives for this global pandemic.

MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE-

As WHO (World Health Organisation) is trembling with utter confusion regarding medical research, lot of countries individually have started medical research in their own capacity to explore the actual nature of mutation of RNA present in this novel COVID19 virus. It seems to be mutating very fast in different countries in different manner and commonly majority of patients dying out of it are old aged or having low immune system with co morbid symptoms finally showing acute respiratory congestion and failure. As far the present research is concerned, public health awareness building should be the major task of teachers.

BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE-

The COVID19 virus seems to have spikes on its outer protein layer which gets adhered to Ac2 receptor proteins present on the mucosal epithelial layer of our respiratory tract, pharynx causing irritation of the throat and gradual congestion of mucus there. Once the viral RNA multiplies during the early part of the incubation period, it starts to trickle down into the narrower bronchiolar passage of lungs initiating respiratory distress leading to death. As part of public health awareness common man is asked to use Luke warm water for drinking, steam inhalation to break the lipoprotein cover of the virus in the throat itself so that the case may not become fatal even if the individual is affected by the corona group of virus.

Social Changes-

People have to maintain social distance from one another. They must obey the social distancing norms. Quarantine, isolation, sanitisation, using masks and gloves, washing hands frequently etc. may become part of public health awareness to prevent entry of this dreaded virus into human body. People are advised not to touch others to avoid contamination. No hand shaking instead ‘Namaste’ is becoming a globally acknowledged greeting system. Human beings should properly dispose the wastes.

ROLE OF TEACHERS-

We, the teachers should come forward to join hands with health workers and doctors in spreading this awareness among common mass to develop the insight to prevent this latest threat to human race on earth. People are afraid of this novel corona virus disease (COVID19). Children are suffering from fear, anxiety, depression. Teachers are their role models. So, teachers should not panic and should update their knowledge base accurately about this novel virus. Teachers are the nation builders and children are the future citizens. So, teachers should make students aware about this global pandemic and should guide them properly so that no confusion can take place in their young minds. Teachers should take regular online classes and should create an inclusive, safe, supportive environment so that children can continue to learn. Teachers should teach children the ways to maintain personal hygiene and the importance of social distancing. Teachers should regularly communicate with their students and should patiently hear the children’s concerns. Teachers should encourage the students to express their feelings and experiences regarding this disease. In an age appropriate manner, teachers should provide necessary information to students. Teachers should tell students about the social distancing norms i.e. standing away from friends, avoiding direct contact or touch, avoiding long queue or crowded places etc. Teachers should help children to learn the concept of disease pathogenesis, symptoms, prevention and control. Teachers should provide the relevant information only regarding COVID19 so that through teaching each children they can reach out a huge number of families just the way Rabindranath Tagore showed the path-

“A Lamp can only light another

Lamp when it continues to

burn in its own flame.”