Then the little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them
- The New Testament
As a reply to this passage from the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Now, the world is dreading it as the Coronavirus spreads its cursed arms to embrace little children in its speculated third phase of fatal advance. In fact, reports from across the country are suggesting that a higher number of children are testing positive for COVID-19 when compared to the first wave, last year. But first, the background as reported from Bengaluru by Rajani Madhavan in The New Indian Express (19/5/21).
With experts signalling a rise in COVID cases among children during the third wave, paediatric specialists have advised ramping up existing infrastructure and keeping manpower in place to handle the surge. Dr Naveen Benakappa, Medical Superintendent of Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, pointed out that oxygen, medicine, emergency drugs and ventilators should be increased so that no child is turned away.
“Most children are doing well, even if they contract the virus. Ventilators will be the last resort and ICU care may be needed in a few cases. Almost all government hospitals have separate paediatric wards and beds. Some of them will be reserved for COVID-19 patients,” he added.
Rajani’s in-depth report goes on to quote other children’s medical specialists and covering other areas to be taken care of as and when the new fear comes true.
But for us in this column, the focus should be on the possible impact it could have on the education of children if such a situation forecast comes true. How will the impacted children be helped if there is a need for them to catch up with studies? Will there be an issue of segregation in school and captive school transport? Will it reinforce online education and the redundancy of some teachers?
