Congress-leaning students welcome Pinarayi government's decision to vaccinate students aged 18-23 on priority

The Congress party's Kerala students wing KSU, for once is happy with a decision by the LDF-led Kerala government. On Tuesday, the state's government had declared that all college students in the 18-23 age group will be on the priority list for COVID vaccination. The Kerala Students' Union's President K M Abijith told EdexLive that the organisation welcomes the government's decision.

"This has been our demand for a very long time. We have staged various protests seeking the immediate vaccination for all college students," says Abhijith. "In fact, we had submitted a representation to the state's new Higher Education Minister Dr R Bindu and this was one of the major demands," he says. "In this stressful situation, most of the students find it difficult to study only through online classes. Conducting offline examinations is also not possible at a time like this," reads the representation. The organisation has asked for a sensible solution here. "Also, we request you to vaccinate the students and teachers on priority," it reads.

A notification from the government said that apart from students studying in the state and ones aiming to go abroad, private bus workers, migrant labour, people with mental disabilities and Secretariat staff and legislature (including staff of ministers’ office), who are not vaccinated yet will also be given the shots on priority. The decision was taken at the state-level COVID committee meeting held on Tuesday. Previously, the state's School Education Minister V Sivankutty had said that he had requested the centre to vaccinate all students on priority so that the educational institutions can be reopened.