For ten thousand years, humans were moving closer to each other despite the borders of nations standing as hindrances. The concept of the global economics aided and abetted by modern means of communications had converted even raised national borders as irrelevant. Humans as far and apart as a village in Nagaland of India and a person in a small village in the Andes region of Columbia could converse with each other as if they were face to face at distance of five feet. Capital could enter any country through networks and also fly away at the push of a key on their mobile phone.

Yet humans maintained closer contacts. The dread of uncontrolled corona virus and without knowing much of the dreaded peril, most governments resorted to only remedy they could by imposing lockdown of all overt and covert activities. Humans were told safety of their survival in social distancing so go inside the quarters and lock the doors on all outsiders. The pandemic virus was presented as a wild animal and humans were told to maintain distance even with close relations and friends for they may be carriers of germs or may carry infection from you.

The lockdown of all activities - political, economic, social and personal - like communication with the supreme being of one’s own preferences in temple, pagoda, church or mosque or meeting with humans of preferences was the admission of governments of their inability to comprehend of or compete with nature, despite all measures and methods available to humans due to progress of sciences that enabled humans to walk on moon, be closer to other planets to get pictures of their surfaces. The lockdown of nation after nation was admission of defeat of human kind in the fight with a tiny invisible germ.

It was much more as the lockdown lasting two months disturbed the economies of all nations to push them to brinks of collapse. Every ruling team realizes the awaited economic doom. But few realize the impact on more vital sector of education. It will be much more severe and serious for developing nations like India. The return of five million labour class families to their home villages in distant states with least economic development, squalid poverty and inability to provide employment but now with added burden of feeding and fending for additional number of human beings and above all inability to expand the base of educating children of returned families.

India’s literacy was at 12 percent in 1947 when she attained political freedom. The education facilities were even more restricted. Over the year’s public education system base expanded to outstrip the facilities in private schools. The public education system provided free education though wanting in quality of education. Nevertheless, it converted human beings to be liberated and make them literates to bring literacy mark above 72 percent in 45 years of independence. Yet the governments and social service organizations and individuals were unable to make Indians accept norms of small families and aware of need for education of their next generations. Till 1992 most poor, particularly landless labour class dragged their eight year kids to join the child labour force to add to the family income to feed other kids. The inborn concept then was more hands to work and earn was better. No one drove the falsity of the concept more children added more mouths to feed.

The expansion of media with several visual media channels, easy and cheap availability of television sets brought the world in huts and hovels. The Indian economy stood at the brinks of collapse in 1991 to force the Narsimha Rao government to open the doors off Indian economy for private sector participation. It did not end poverty for all. In reality it expanded the economic disparities but it also brought in rapid social transformation as poor saw better future for their children only if they were educated. It also brought in the norm of small family as educating more than two appeared beyond capacity. With transformation number of school going children saw quantum jump off 24 per cent in 20 years. 96 per cent of children were going to schools in 2013 and literacy rate had crossed 83 percent mark. Villagers who came to the economically advanced states seeking employment also ensured their children attended schools of public education system with many putting their children in better quality education schools. The Supreme Court had facilitated the realisation of their dream for better quality education to their children with compulsion of 15 per cent reservation in admission to economically weaker sections in all schools.

The lockdown brought harsh reality of loss of opportunities of daily earnings as well as wages from their works. It was a hard blow for most of working class to leave no options but to return to their root stations in economically backward states. As they could not leave their children behind without means of survival, children also were taken without care for or even thought of their education. The impact of the migration of huge numbers to states without adequate education facilities, the migrated parents’ children will suffer as schools reopen after and when the lockdown conditions are relaxed. Parents cannot and will not return immediately due to lack of finances for travel fare of entire family. Working fathers or mothers who shifted back to their root states will suffer similar dilemma how to manage the return of rest of their family members. In their villages there are no schools and yet they would be unable to attend their previous schools and would not be in a position to attend to distant education through mail networks due to inability to have necessary gears. Neither the government nor parents thought of greater impact of the lockdown on education of few million school going kids before the lockdown.