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Uttarakhand minister wants India’s Covid-19 fight to be taught in schools

Union government has been requested to make lessons from India’s fight against Covid-19 part of school curriculum.

Updated on: May 2, 2020, 20:36:24 IST
Hindustan Times, Dehradun | By
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Uttarakhand tourism minister Satpal Maharaj on Saturday wrote to the Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, demanding the inclusion of the lessons leant from India’s fight against Covid-19 pandemic in the school curriculum. The state cabinet minister said that doing so will teach the children how to fight such a pandemic and ‘become a Covid warrior’.

India has extended the world’s largest lockdown by another 15 days till May 17. (HT Photo/Dheeraj Dhawan)
India has extended the world’s largest lockdown by another 15 days till May 17. (HT Photo/Dheeraj Dhawan)

Maharaj said he sent the request to Pokhriyal on Saturday morning and hopes that his request is accepted.

“I decided to write to the Union minister, as in my opinion, adding lessons on the fight against the pandemic in the curriculum will help the children understand what sort of measures were taken to contain the spread of the deadly virus in a country of a billion-plus people,” said Maharaj.

He added that the lessons for the children in the junior classes may be interactive in nature, teaching them the benefits of social distancing, face masks and sanitisers. “This is necessary, because such precautionary measures will become a part of our regular life in the future due to this pandemic,” Maharaj said.

He added that the students of higher classes could be given a case study on the containment efforts.

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“Debates could also be organised on the issue so that students can understand the pandemic in a much better way, and learn how a country of India’s size fought it while setting an example for the world,” Maharaj said.

Maharaj feels this initiative, if approved, will educate the coming generations about the pandemic and prepare them for any such threat in the future.

“If the fight against this pandemic is added to the school curriculum, then, I think India would be the first country to do so in the world,” he added.

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