Monthly Archives: August 2021

TheWalker College of Businessat Mercyhurst University has been granted reaffirmation of its specialized business accreditation by the International Accreditation Council for Business Education.

According to the accrediting organization, "The Walker Collegehas demonstrated compliance through a rigorous process of self-evaluation and independent peer review."

Heidi Hosey, dean of the business school, said, "The university can be very proud of the work the faculty members in the business department have done over the past year to achieve this important accreditation."

Robert Zaruta, CEO of the Northwest Industrial Resource Center, has been named president of the Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center Network.

The PennsylvaniaIRCN is made up of seven nonprofit centers locatedthroughout the state. These centers were established more than 30 years agoto help manufacturers respond to changing markets, new technology and the competitive pressures of the global economy.

Zarutahas been with NWIRC since 2016, serving more than 1,500 manufacturers in 13 counties of northwestern Pennsylvania.

The Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., the owner of the Millcreek Mall complex, has been honored by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for a signage and social media campaign highlightingthe dangers of leaving children and pets in parked cars.

The mall's owner was awarded PETA's Compassionate Business Award for its efforts.

Got an idea for The Buzz? Send an email to Jim Martin at jim.martin@timesnews.com or call him at 870-1668.

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Erie business briefs: Mercyhurst University's school of business wins business accreditation - GoErie.com

HUHTAMKI OYJ PRESS RELEASE 27.8.2021 AT 07:00 EET

Huhtamaki partners with RiverRecycle and VTT to develop technology to tackle floating river waste. New technology river waste collector now operational on the Mithi River in Mumbai, India

Finding new ways to address our environmental challenges is reliant on our ability to foster innovation to find ways of driving systemic change. To support such innovation and progress towards circularity, Huhtamaki, a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions for consumers around the world, donated 600,000 to fund the development and piloting of a river waste collector, invented by the Finnish cleantech start-up RiverRecycle. The collector is an integral part of RiverRecycles solution to solve marine waste, one of the biggest global challenges of today. With Huhtamakis support, a prototype waste collector was built and tested in Finland. This was then transported to and assembled in Mumbai, where it is now operational and where it will be collecting waste from the Mithi River for the next 12 months.

We believe in protecting food, people and the planet. We also believe that cooperation across the value chain with key stakeholders is needed to address global sustainability challenges, for example such as in this case marine plastics. If we want to drive systemic change, we not only need to support the development and commercialization of innovation that can help stop waste from getting into the oceans, but we also need the monetization of waste and incentivization of local communities to improve their waste management practices, says Thomasine Kamerling, Executive Vice President Sustainability and Communications at Huhtamaki.

When operating in a circular economy, cooperation among different players is fundamental to sustainability. Huhtamaki funding enabled us to complete two of the three parts of our journey of transforming plastic waste into a resource, with the positive engagement of affected communities. Huhtamakis commitment is an example of how collaboration helps solve global problems such as plastic waste pollution," says Anssi Mikola, CEO and Founder of RiverRecycle.

The Mithi River project is run by a global partnership between UNTIL (now known as UN Global Pulse), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, RiverRecycle and Earth5R, an India-based citizen-led environmental movement. In addition to building, setting up and operating the river cleaner for a year, Huhtamakis donation has been used to organize local hands-on workshops on effective waste management and recycling with a view to drive systemic change. The project also provides input to VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on the floating waste and its seasonal variations that can be used to optimize clean-up operations and recycling processes for the future.

The Huhtamaki funding enables the adaption of optical sensors and drones in the detection of floating plastic objects and differentiation of plastics from organic material. VTTs contribution also includes pyrolysis test runs and assessing chemical recycling of the recovered plastic waste fractions. At a broader level we aim to enhance circular economy solutions for the global challenge of plastic waste pollution. In addition to the technology involvement, we also appreciate the collaboration between local partners and communities as an essential part of the successful project implementation, says Jukka Sassi, Senior Scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.

Huhtamakis ambition is to have 100% of its products designed to be recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2030. In India, where Huhtamaki has 16 units and manufactures mainly high-quality flexible packaging that protect for example food, pharmaceuticals and personal and home care products, the Company has already several recyclable flexible packaging structures in the market under its Huhtamaki blueloop concept. In addition to the Mithi River project, Huhtamaki is contributing to the building of necessary recycling infrastructure by setting up a pilot recycling plant for flexible packaging in India which should be operational by the end of 2021.

We are excited to be a part of this global partnership and the development of the technology enabling us to clean Mithi, the only river that flows through the heart of Mumbai. This project promotes sustainability with a holistic approach by collecting plastic waste, while also empowering local communities to gain knowledge and employment, notes Sudip Mall, Managing Director, Flexible Packaging India at Huhtamaki.

The Mithi River project is one of three initiatives that Huhtamaki funded as part of its 100-year anniversary to address global sustainability challenges and build and learn from circular economy initiatives globally.

For further information, please contact:Katariina Hietaranta, Head of Media Relations, tel. +358 10 686 7863

For more information and materials on the Mithi River project, please visit: https://www.riverrecycle.com/india-mithi-river-cleanup/

HUHTAMKI OYJGlobal Communications

About HuhtamakiHuhtamaki is a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions for consumers around the world, enabling wellbeing and convenience. Our innovative products protect on-the-go and on-the-shelf food and beverages, ensuring hygiene and safety, and help prevent food waste. We embed sustainability in everything we do. We are committed to achieving carbon neutral production and designing all our products to be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2030.

We are a participant in the UN Global Compact and as of 2020, we received an MSCI ESG Rating of A, on a scale of AAA CCC. To play our part in managing climate change, we have committed to set science-based targets through the Science Based Targets initiative. Huhtamaki has been awarded the Gold medal by EcoVadis for performance in sustainability.

With 100 years of history and a strong Nordic heritage we operate in 36 countries and 82 sites around the world. Our values Care Dare Deliver guide our decisions and help our team of 18,200 employees make a difference where it matters. Our 2020 net sales totaled EUR 3.3 billion. Huhtamaki Group is headquartered in Espoo, Finland and our parent company, Huhtamki Oyj, is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Find out more about how we are protecting food, people and the planet on http://www.huhtamaki.com.

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Huhtamaki partners with RiverRecycle and VTT to develop - GlobeNewswire

Introduction

History has a way of reminding us that while the good times are great, a business as usual comes with many unforeseen risks and challenges. On a positive note, stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues have turned around many mindsets in certain groups. There are now significant and unprecedented levels of compassion, empathy, and more, originating from many populations. One such instance, wherein significant challenges were posed to the community is at the time of the First World War. Besides, there was the Spanish plague, there was the second world war and for the last 60 plus years, we have had to live in a world of misgivings; ranging from populism to political unrests and instability in several parts of the world, primarily the Middle East and some parts of Asia.

When the current Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in December 2019, many assumed that like its predecessors H1N1, SARS, different plagues, and viruses, etc., it was going to pass with a thud (Chatterjee et al 2020: para 9).1 Five months into the pandemic and countries continue to live in fear, driven by many unknowns and limited scientific evidence. In the meantime, this aggressive, stealth, and brutal virus continues to spiral unabated. There is at least some consensus that once the peak of the pandemic has been achieved, there will be a reason for optimism. This is based on the assumption that everything being equal (continuous self-exclusion, personal hygiene, social distancing, etc.), the worst would then be behind us. For the most part, this assumption is correct if the processes are effectively and comprehensively implemented. The reality is that the potential for a subsequent wave is real and compelling. To be specific, as per the study findings of Salyer et al,2 the second wave of Covid-19, which was evident by December 2020, was more aggressive than the first one in several cases. In this regard, the Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, serves as a classical example. Its second wave of infection proved to be even deadlier than the first after non-medical intervention measures put in place at the time had been relaxed.3

It must also be noted that during the outburst of COVID-19 also known as SARS-CoV-2 disease, healthcare workers are found to play a pivotal role. According to the report published by World Health Organization (WHO),4 healthcare workers have been providing frontline services in the pandemic. They are also found to undertake several responsibilities in maintaining health and wellbeing during the outbreak of the coronavirus such as implementing effective health measures, which, in turn, can protect the occupational health and safety aspects of the healthcare organizations. Their significant roles, as well as responsibilities in all the Covid-19 pandemic stages, are found to expose them to risks. The hazards that these healthcare workers have been immensely exposed to during this pandemic include psychological distress, pathogen exposure, fatigue, psychological violence, physical impacts, occupational burnout, extensive working hours, and stigma, among others (World Health Organization (WHO) 2021: 1).4 Even community health workers are found to be playing a vital role in facilitating successful COVID-19 vaccination programs. Health workers are found to plan, as well as coordinate the vaccine rollouts. They are also responsible for identifying the target groups for vaccination along with engaging communities, service delivery, facilitating mobilization, tracking progress, and conduct follow-ups (World Health Organization and the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) 2021: 8).5

Additionally, Al Thobaitya and Alshammari6 asserted that healthcare workers and nurses have played a significant role in disasters and daily routine, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are engaged in providing holistic care to all patients. Since nurses constitute many of the healthcare professionals, they have an important role within healthcare systems. Specifically,

Their roles in treating patients with COVID-19 involve triaging patients and detecting suspected cases with infections; providing essential treatment in an emergency and dealing with suspected patients with precautions; helping in decontamination and coordination with other healthcare providers; supplying holistic nursing practices in managing multiple infections simultaneously; playing critical roles in expanding care services; and dealing with relatives.6

However, Lahner et al7 stated that due to their pivotal role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the patients even during Covid-19, health workers are found to be at a high risk of getting infected. In the context of Covid-19, it has highly influenced the dynamics of quality of life along with incorporating AI. This has been particularly highlighted in the scientific research conducted by Laudanski et al.8 In this study, it has been understood that technological advancements of AI have significant scope to improve the pandemic response at every stage. Appendix 1 illustrates the pandemic phases propounded by the WHO, wherein distinctive AI applications have been visible considering hypothetical cases. It shows that in the majority of all the stages, AI can be applied in one way or the other. It is during this pandemic that AI engines have been prominently performing with a higher level of sensitivity. This has helped to track cases along with the performance of response programs. Even in cases, wherei limited data are available, AI can be developed and deployed. However, pre-training of AI is found to be highly necessary so that appropriate outcomes can be attained.9

Hence, with the consideration of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the transformation, which has been evident across the world concerning the quality of life as well as AI technological advancements, will be explored in this research paper. The key objective of this research paper is to perform an exploratory review of the varied dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to emphasizing the theme of pandemic morbidity and mortality. AI and its contributing role will also be reviewed. The reason for conducting this exploratory review on the concerned topic is to explore the pandemic dynamics, and its contribution in addressing such issues in the future. The present study indicates that it has a high contribution to the existing literature. This is because this topic can be relevant to other health and social issues. For understanding the literature gap, a literature review has been conducted. Thus, it must be noted that limited literature is present, which examines the dynamics of AI and QOL concerning the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it can be evident that this study can provide important information concerning the QOL and AI dynamics during the pandemic.

The method, which has been incorporated in this research study, is a review of the literature. Besides, anecdotal evidence along with exploratory reviews and reports on the morbidity of COVID-19 have also been taken into due consideration for understanding the dynamics of QOL and AI. This research paper also provides the scope of the devastating effects of the pandemic in select countries: a challenge that should awake all policymakers and create scope for more innovative, cost-effective, and pragmatic interventions. In that regard, the importance of supply chain management systems cannot be adequately emphasized. For the study, a literature review has been conducted by collecting reports and anecdotal evidence. Only recent sources have been selected or included for exploring the review. This is because the issue of the pandemic is recent. Hence, only recent sources are valid for the study. The sources before 2019 have been excluded from the study.

A troublesome pre-occupation in many affected regions is vulnerability. The notion that we are all equal in the fight against this virus has been quickly dispelled with early findings, revealing health inequalities amongst populations ranging from front-line service providers to marginalized communities to racial minority groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2020).10

Specifically, in the United States (US), preliminary nationwide data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)11 revealed that although African Americans represent approximately 13% of the US population, they accounted for 30% of all COVID-19 patients. Although far from complete, these data are consistent with the findings from other data collected on race and COVID-19 so far. A disproportionate toll is also being seen in the UK after the Guardian did an analysis of 12, 593 patients who died of COVID-19 as of April 19, 2020. It showed that 19% were Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) even though they make up 15% of the population.12

In many cases, keeping food on the table means foregoing safe working conditions and a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19. Hence, it can be stated that this issue closely aligns with pandemic morbidity: the focus of the present paper. Besides, a lack of economic resources often translates to food insecurity, amongst other things, which in turn often leads to poorer health outcomes that include a higher risk of underlying health conditions. In India, millions of people, including migrant laborers and daily wage earners, are facing hunger since the countrys shut down in late March 2020 left them with no means to earn a living. A similar dire outlook is also threatening First Nations communities in Canada and black communities in the US. Canada does not report Coronavirus morbidity by race or ethnicity; making it difficult to address disparities. The study conducted by Nguyen further suggested that to eliminate such economic issues, AI technology can be implemented. In this context, it has been recommended that economic recovery can be predicted, as well as tracked with the help of AI applications by detecting cars and solar panel installations in parking lots.13

Many front-line workers like transport employees, sanitary workers, delivery personnel, etc., are often made up of BAME groups.14 In New York City, for example, Blacks and Latinos make up more than 60% of the hard-hit Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). As of April 22, 2020, eighty-three MTA workers have died.15 Apart from them, healthcare workers are also found to be adversely affected due to COVID-19 economically. According to Shukla, Pradhan, and Malik,16 the outbreak of COVID-19 has posed an economic impact on the healthcare sector of India. As a result of which

A stimulus package at 0.8% of GDP was announced on 26 March 2020 and included in-kind and cash transfer to lower income households, insurance coverage of healthcare workers and financial support to low wage workers and others seeking jobs.16

Even the most basic health recommendations to avoid contracting or spreading infection like hand washing and social distancing are major challenges in marginalized communities without sufficient access to water or housing. The number of people who do not have regular access to water is mind-boggling: 36 million people in Mexico, over 2 million in the US, more than 100 in First Nations communities in Canada, 63.4 million in India, etc. In all, 40% of the worlds population lack access to basic hand-washing facilities in their homes.1720

The inability to self-isolate, when faced with a virulent virus, places additional stress on people within communities, who are affected by overcrowding and housing shortages. In many Indigenous communities in Canada often living in remote areas with limited medical services there are sometimes two or three families living in the same house.21 Indigenous Australians face the same troubling dilemma, compounded by a higher prevalence of underlying health conditions in Indigenous communities compared to general populations.21 There is compelling evidence that unprecedented measures such as national lockdowns were incorporated in Italy due to the pandemic. The main reason for undertaking such measures was that Italian people were facing several health issues, including psychological issues. Even post-traumatic symptoms were evident and hence, psychological interventions were suggested in the study present by Roma et al.22

For Brazils Indigenous groups, where some have little or no contact with non-Indigenous society leaves them particularly vulnerable to disease. Fears grow that the entire community could be wiped out amidst a rising number of illegal land invasions from loggers, miners, etc. As of April 17, 2020, Brazils Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) has recorded at least 27 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3 deaths, including a 15-year-old from a village on the Uraricoera River - an access route for gold rush miners.23 Besides, in South-East Asia, it has been reported that Covid-19 was evident earlier than in other parts of the world. The concerned states took 17 days to declare an emergency ie, after 50 positive cases of the contamination of the virus.24 Similarly, several African nations have recorded lesser than 1000 cases. Specifically,

WHO has warned that the pandemic could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in 47 African countries in the first year, mostly depending on governments responses; and the virus could smolder for several years.25

Based on the understanding derived from the preliminary research, it has been found that due to the significant roles and responsibilities undertaken by the healthcare workers, they become prone to being infected by the virus. This is the reason why Lahner et al. affirmed that there is a high prevalence of COVID-19 infection among healthcare workers. This was prominently evident from the cross-sectional study, which was done considering the retrospective data of healthcare workers. The results of this study showed that

A total of 2057 HWs (median age 46, 1969 years, females 60.2%) were assessed by the RNA RT-PCR assay and 58 (2.7%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Compared with negative HWs, SARS-CoV-2-positives were younger (mean age 41.7 versus 45.2, p < 0.01; 50% versus 31% under or equal to 40 years old, p < 0.002) and had a shorter duration of employment (64 versus 125 months, p = 0.02). Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was more frequent in positive HWs than in negatives (55.2% versus 27.5%, p < 0.0001).7

It was further observed that nearly half of the healthcare workers considered for this study were not exposed to any COVID-19 infected subjects. This helps in assesing the vulnerability of the healthcare workers while dealing and responding to the pandemic because they are playing the essential role of the frontline workers.7 This study is found to significantly contribute to the literature review. The main reason being that in conducting vaccination drives, the healthcare professionals have important roles. However, if they are affected, the healthcare programs may not lead to positive outcomes. This study can be used in the future for exploring the situations and understanding the risks that are associated with frontline workers so that the third wave of COVID-19 can be managed appropriately along with responding to future healthcare issues.

While lockdowns continue to serve as a geopolitical prevention strategy against COVID-19, the financial and economic outcomes on the poor populations undoubtedly are remarkably onerous. In Asia, for example, and according to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), 70% of workers belong to the informal economy (no benefits or safety net).26 Many countries in this region have introduced support mechanisms financial and economic (rice, sugar, etc.). These strategies are necessary but not sufficient! As demonstrated by the lockdown insubordination in countries like Bangladesh, the poor in these economies remain vulnerable with limited options and an extremely unenviable way of life: contract the virus by risking going out or follow the lockdown and starve.

The biggest concern for the World Health Organization (WHO) is COVID-19s potential to spread in countries with weak health systems. While the 2019 Global Health Security Index, a health security assessment listing of 195 countries, highlighted fundamental weaknesses of healthcare systems around the world, its not surprising that many countries found to be the least prepared were in Africa.27 Less than 50% of the continents population has access to modern health facilities and countries are plagued with shortages ranging from low numbers of healthcare workers in ratio to the population to medical equipment, medications, and capacity (AFRIC 2019).28

Densely populated cities, slums, and displacement camps; struggles with other simultaneous communicable diseases, ongoing conflicts in some regions, and myriads of other dangerous conditions, make it inevitable that the continent will experience a substantial epidemic.

The one silver lining in terms of mortality rates is that Africa has the youngest population in the world 60% of its 1.25 billion population is under the age of twenty-five, an age group likely to recover from COVID-19 infection.

Besides, data collected from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) in January and February 2020, identified people aged 60 and over as the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Mortality rates based on these findings were determined by University of Bern researchers as 4.6% for ages 6069, 9.8% for ages 7079, and 18% for ages 80 and over.

Unsurprisingly, with 23.1% of Italys population being 65 and over, it has one of the highest mortality rates in the world (28,236 as of May 1, 2020). In Canada, 79% of all deaths in the country have been linked to seniors homes and long-term care facilities as of April 13, 2020, according to chief public health officer Theresa Tam. Similarly, as per the study conducted by Bhapkar et al, the mortality rate during the pandemic is constantly altering with time and hence, it has been termed Progressive Mortality Rate (PMR). In this study, it was observed that the PMR rates of Russia, India, Japan, the US, Brazil, Germany, China, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand, and Canada were 1.83, 2.82, 2.75, 3.61, 3.92, 4.35, 5.34, 12.79, 0.05, 1.4, and 7.63 respectively. On the other hand, Progressive Recovery Rates (PRR) of the same countries were recorded to be 85.58, 106.44, 101.15, 38.89, 96.53, 94.85, 94.44, 95.6, 97.93, 97.7, and 92.63 accordingly.29

Furthermore, the study of Samlani et al, suggested that in Morocco, the quality of life of the people was moderately affected by the pandemic. This was because the Mental Health Score (MCS) of all the participants was 34.49. On the other hand, their Physical Health Score (PCS) accounted for 36.10. It was also found that the impact of the concerned pandemic was evident in those people with chronic illnesses, which significantly deteriorated their wellbeing and quality of life. The main reason for such results is that people with or without chronic illness were found to suffer from mental health and panic issues. Besides, the isolation and quarantine made people face psychological health problems.30 It has also been observed that Covid-19 has led to the death of several people, which has further affected the food systems and presented unprecedented challenges to work-life and public health.31

On the other hand, as of March 2021, a total of 1,521,068 people have been infected by the pandemic in South Africa and the most affected region was Gauteng (Johannesburg), which reported about 406,729 Covid-19 cases. It was also found that the highest increase in the daily cases of Coronavirus was evident on 8th January 2021 with 21, 980 new cases. Besides, viewing from a different perspective, it has been found that the pandemic significantly hampered the businesses across the nation, thereby adversely affecting their survivability at large.32,33 This indicates that South Africa has been largely affected by the pandemic, which is bound to change the quality of life of people living and working therein. Concerning South Africa, Covid-19 largely influenced the deaths and mortality rates of the nation due to the presence of underlying causes. It has made a significant impact on the quality of life. Contextually, the mental health of people was negatively affected by the pandemic due to the uncertainty that it created. Besides, restrictions, quarantine, financial losses, high infectivity, continuous lockdowns, fatality, and unemployment rates have altered the daily lives, as well as activities of people. This has led problems associated with mental health along with substance abuse. Even educational institutions have remained closed, which negatively affected the learning and teaching activities of people. Even teenage marriages were observed to increase along with gender-based violence, demonstrations, and social unrest. This implies that there are less human capital and economic opportunities in the future of the nation.34

Another study conducted by Guo et al portrayed those lockdowns, which have been implemented as a precautionary measure during the Covid-19 pandemic have significantly influenced the quality of life of people with Parkinson's disease (PD). In this regard, it was found that the concerned patients were unable to seek medical advice or guidance from their respective doctors. As a result, most of the patients had to alter their routine medicines, which made their quality of life or health conditions even worse. In such situations, telemedicine is found to be significantly effective and efficient for the patients during the lockdown. The challenges concerning adequate treatment caused the symptoms of patients to get aggravated, which further exacerbated their quality of life. On the other hand, healthcare professionals are also finding it difficult to maintain healthcare quality.35,36 Zhang and Ma further affirmed from their study that the quality of life, as well as mental health of local people, especially that of China has deteriorated significantly. Specifically, a mild level of stress was evident among most of the survey participants irrespective of the devastating pandemic outbreak. The mean Impact of Event Scale (IES) score was found to be 13.6 7.7.37 Even social and economic developments have been adversely affected, thereby increasing poverty along with inequality.38 All these aspects indicate that Covid-19 has largely affected people throughout the world, thereby transforming the way they live or their quality of life.

On a similar note, Dey et al highlighted that because of COVID-19, there are several psychosocial and psychological impacts: especially fear among the public. In this review, it was particularly found that the psychological effect was more taxing. Hence, long-term quarantine was implemented by the governmental bodies of various countries. This is the reason why boredom, fear, and frustration have been observed to be highly evident among the citizens. This has increased the difficulties in the trying times of the Covid-19 outbreak. The latter stages of the pandemic were observed to pose more significant impacts such as psychological disorder and stress along with mental stigma and financial losses. This study found that 22% of adults (a survey among 1000 people) have been experiencing worse sleep patterns during this pandemic, which may increase the risk of cardiovascular events [9]. In this situation of adversity, yoga, meditation, and video chat with relatives and friends induce mental relaxation, to some extent. In contrast, self-isolation gives us opportunities to connect with our passions and inner identity.39

Additionally, AI along with augmented intelligence plays a significant role in understanding the collected data through data analytics, pattern recognition, anomaly detection, and machine learning.40 Similarly, Mukherjee et al stated that AI-driven tools have been used to track as well as observe the developments of positive cases during the outbreak of the pandemic. However, it was argued that differences in data can influence the critical decision-making concerning the preparedness and responses of the pandemic. With the advancement in the pandemic stages, technical innovations concerning AI have also been evident, especially for detecting and predicting purposes.41

Currently, there are several achievements, which have been evident during the outbreak of a pandemic. According to report findings of United Nations, telephone-enabled services such as teleconferencing along with social media and other smartphone applications as well as online shopping have been increasing. These services are used to resolve the problems due to Covid-19 in most of the nations, including the US and China. These improvements have increased e-commerce business activities and forced traditional businesses to undergo digitalization.42 In the social context, one of the positive aspects, which have been highlighted by the pandemic, is the role and contribution of women in society. Cities and communities have facilitated innovation for achieving sustainable developments even in this crisis. Besides, marine, as well as land ecosystems are also improving during this pandemic due to reduced exploitation of resources. Also, due to lockdowns and isolations, the flora and fauna are being restored in their natural habitat, as they are not disturbed by humans. Another positive aspect of this pandemic is the unity with which people have been fighting against Coronavirus.43,44 Furthermore, Covid-19 has facilitated the importance of distance learning. However, there are students, who are facing problems in switching to the online mode of learning due to the lack of adequate resources and support from their parents IESALC 2020: 45; UNESCO 2020).4547 On the contrary, Gonzalez et al48 affirmed that the confinement evident due to Covid-19 had a positive impact on the performance of the students in Spain. Similarly, it was found in the study conducted by Chaudhary, Gupta, Jain, and Santosh that the air quality was considerably improved during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in most nations. Hence, it can be stated that due to COVID-19, isolation practices were implemented, which proved to be climate favorable. In many regions of the US, Brazil, China, and India, air quality indices improved due to restrictions in air pollution activities.49 Besides, currently, big data and AI incorporation have been evidenced to enhance the pandemic situation and reduce the adverse impacts of COVID-19. In this context, it was found that By training on an open-source dataset with 13, 975 images of 13, 870 patients, the proposed CNN model can achieve an accuracy of 93.3%. (p. 5).50 Herein, CNN model refers to the convolution neural network (CNN), which incorporates AI techniques.50

Ethical issues are being faced in several areas during the pandemic, especially in terms of physical distancing, conducting clinical trials, rights of healthcare workers, priority-setting, public health surveillance, and resource allocation. The ethical issues are mainly at the time of conducting healthcare research, policy-making, and decision-making process.51 Hence, ethical aspects must be closely considered while responding to the issue at the post-pandemic stage. Specifically, ethical concerns have emerged with the increase in the influx of patients requiring ICUs. Healthcare professionals have been facing ethical dilemmas along with life-support withdrawal decisions. Similar issues have also been faced concerning the quality of end-of-life support and family visits. Hence, effective triage policies are to be formulated so that these issues may not be faced in the post-pandemic phase.52 Similar aspects have been highlighted by McGuire et al wherein it has been affirmed that ethical issues emerged not only within the healthcare system but also in society. Particularly, ethical issues can be evident while defining the benefits, handling informed consent, understanding the special needs of other patients, mitigating discrimination, identifying structural inequalities, and engaging communities.53 Ethical issues have also been found to emerge at the time of resetting healthcare services after the outbreak ie, post-pandemic.8 Contextually, it has been affirmed in the study of Laudanski et al that

Numerous predictive models of COVID-19 prognosis in various individuals based on AI-driven algorithms have been designed and published [7580]. Their ability to distinguish between favorable outcomes and demise is significantly accurate. A few of them were implemented to test their suggestions in real life, a fact that leaves unaddressed concerns about dataset impartiality and concomitant ethical concerns about the implication of AIdriven decisions.

This indicates that in the post-pandemic era, ethical concerns have been prominent, especially at the time of implementing AI-driven decisions.54

The latest technology has been of utmost importance during the pandemic. This is because AI is found to be effective not only in detecting pathogens but also in responding and recovering from Covid-19. According to a report presented by OECD, AI systems had predicted an outbreak of pneumonia in China before coronavirus became the worldwide threat. Hence, understanding the effectiveness of this technology, it is clear that AI technologies and tools can be incorporated for supporting the efforts of medical communities, policymakers, and societies. This can enable the concerned authorities to manage activities at all stages of the pandemic, including the acceleration of research, detection, response, prevention, and recovery. AI can be effective in enhancing research for the discovery of proper solutions such as vaccines and drugs through distributed computing and open data projects.55 Similar opinions have been provided by Arora, Banerjee, and Narasu, wherein AI largely contributed to developing several types of vaccines to date. It seemed that there is a race between the virus and vaccine developers. Hence, for the betterment of mankind and to improve the situation created by the pandemic, AIs ability continues to be vital. This was because The pace of the discovery can be accelerated manifold by harnessing the power of AI.56

To win in the race, several biotechnology companies are depending on AI such as Blue Dot for pacing up the ways to find a cure for the virus. This technology has the potential to identify changes and spot patterns so that the process of vaccine development does not get hampered. In this context, several successful trials have been made. For instance, the Deep Learning-Based Drug Screening method was created using DenseNet for predicting the interactions between ligands and proteins, which further helped in determining the drug combination that worked well while responding to Covid-19. Besides, DeepMind has used the AlphaFold library for understanding the protein structure of the virus. Furthermore, Machine learning (ML) models were developed by the AI scientists of Wuhan for identifying the infection intensity with the help of factors such as gender and age.57 As a result of such initiatives, an AI-based flu vaccine has been developed in the US for which the clinical trials are being sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The scientists of Flinders University used synthetic chemist, which is an AI program that generated numerous synthetic compounds. They also used the Search Algorithm for Ligands (SAM), which is an AI program that assisted the scientists to determine good candidates for vaccine trials. This program has shortened the development process of vaccines. This indicates that AI can contribute not only to examine the drugs that are currently available but also helps in accelerating the antivirus development procedure.58 Additionally, the Human Vaccines Project, as well as the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has started the Human Immunomics Initiative.This initiative made use of AI models to speed up the process of vaccine and therapeutic development, thereby understanding effective immunity concerning old-aged populations.59

The pandemic has also illustrated that with cooperation at the local, national, and global levels communities can thrive in the wake of the crisis.60 It has also been understood that at the time of pandemic without effective control and prevention measures, the healthcare systems become restricted when considering general measures such as limited travel, social contact, hygiene and sanitary measures, usage of PPE, isolation, and quarantine.61,62 The ongoing carnage experienced by this population is not only despicable but also confirms the degree of incompetence and lackadaisical efforts of some institutions both government and private.

As counterfactuals, there are compelling needs to know if these gruesome and unacceptable mortality rates could have been avoided if:

The memories of this pandemic in these vulnerable communities will be long-lasting and tenuous, especially between the affected families and these institutions.

Additionally, it must also be noted that communities need to prioritize and appreciate essential values along with their needs so that the true importance of healthcare professionals and frontline workers in maintaining the wellbeing of people can be understood. Even the businesses require focusing on values and fulfill the needs of the people. Piccialli et al affirmed that AI technologies have the potential to be successfully used in healthcare systems so that society can be benefitted in future pandemic situations.63

Irrespective of several positive achievements evident during the pandemic due to lockdowns and less human intentions on social, business, and environmental aspects, it has posed significant adverse impacts. To minimize or mitigate the negative consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, certain strategic decisions need to be undertaken by the nations at the post-pandemic stage. Innovation has been one of the widely used strategic initiatives to be undertaken by several countries, especially to revive the healthcare systems along with gain economic stability.64 On the other hand, a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report highlighted that the social economy has been playing an essential role in addressing or minimizing the impacts of the pandemic. This indicates that nations must focus on strengthening their social economies so that both long-term and short-term impacts can be eliminated during the post-pandemic phase. This is because social economy firms have the potential to reshape the national economy, thereby encouraging sustainable economic along with inclusive models. This, in turn, can facilitate social innovation, which will help the economy to improve in the future.65 It has also been suggested by Piccialli et al that in the post-pandemic era, careful application of AI technologies must be enabled for managing complex situations similar to COVID-19 in the future, thereby involving research, healthcare, and society.63

As we go through these trying times, there is a need to regularly remind ourselves that while the vulnerable groups on the front lines specifically continue to subject themselves to this devastating virus, their motivation and dedication to respond to this professional call of duty requires special recognition, empathy, and compassion at all levels. This applies specifically to health professionals who continue to expose themselves daily to alleviate the suffering of victims of the pandemic. Institutional support remains relatively inadequate and yet its involvement is a sine qua non that cannot be adequately emphasized. Institutional support needs to be strengthened, especially concerning individual risks and supply chain coordination.

In the future, it will be important to take effective public interventions so that new cases of Covid-19 can be prevented along with mitigating community transmission. Besides, innovation must be taken into consideration for tracing cases along with online learning and telemedicine for managing the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak more effectively than the earlier one.66 Since the second wave has been phased out; recommendations for the third wave must be taken into consideration. Vigilant monitoring of the cases must be maintained for tracking the new variants to control the cases at the earliest.67 Disparities evident during the pandemic must also be eliminated cooperatively in order to ensure that future pandemics and similar issues can be averted effectively. Additionally, the health issues such as anxiety and stress must be evaluated, as well as addressed immediately among the healthcare staff.68 It has also been understood that elderly people have higher risks of transmission, which suggests that in the future, the healthcare requirements of the older citizens must be taken into high consideration so that their safety and wellbeing can be ensured.62 Besides, the importance of AI technology has also been found to be immensely imperative, as it has been estimated to play a vital role in tackling COVID-19. AI can contribute not only to pacing up the vaccine development procedure but also in identifying future threats posed by viruses beforehand. It also helps in diagnosing, predicting infections, surveillance, gathering information, delivering materials, deploying services, and tracking the recovery process, thereby expanding strategies. Evidence of these implications has not been evident to date. This can be highly effective in tackling Covid-19 in the future.65 Additionally, AL-Hashimi and Hamdan asserted that AI has been showing positive results in detecting conditions such as diseases. It must also be effectively used in the healthcare sector. With its implentation, healthcare organizations can track the progress of any situation at a quick pace. With more advancement in AI-driven technologies, higher-quality healthcare services can be delivered for the betterment of society.69

Based on the findings gathered in the above sections, it has been understood that Covid-19 has significantly affected the world both positively and negatively. It can be concluded that the pandemic has facilitated global transformations, especially by deteriorating the quality of life of millions of people. Additionally, the public along with healthcare workers was also found to be adversely affected due to COVID-19. It became highly important on the part of the healthcare workers that their health and safety were maintained in order to perform their duties effectively. On a positive note, COVID-19 has made the best use of AI-driven technologies for aiding or responding to the pandemic. Hence, it has been suggested that its full potential needs to be explored in the future. This can help in providing better quality healthcare services in pandemic situations in the future both efficiently and effectively. This will confirm that the objective of the research study has been met effectively. Finally, an exploratory review of COVID-19 has been conducted by emphasizing the theme of pandemic morbidity and considering the dynamics of AI and Quality of Life (QOL).

The pandemic also made us realize the importance of cooperation among people along with values. It is also understood that healthcare workers and other frontline workers are vital in responding to the pandemic. Additionally, innovative approaches and effective health interventions are found to be essential in addressing the adverse consequences of the crisis. This further indicates the lessons that must be learned from the pandemic so that new waves and future epidemics can be handled as effectively as possible. One of such future implications is to ensure the health and wellbeing of elderly people. Another important future implication is to optimally utilize AI capabilities to tackle the pandemic throughout its different stages.

Personal Funds.

The author reports no conflicts of interest for this work.

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Read the original:

COVID-19: quality of life and artificial intelligence | JMDH - Dove Medical Press

While quantitatively, the literacy level is making great strides in India, the type of education that the students are receiving has been questioned time and again. To change the education system at its core has taken years of waitingexactly 34 years and a massive consultation and brainstorming process. Which has finally resulted in the formulation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, that was announced last year amidst the first wave of the pandemic, and which aims to provide high quality, equitable and inclusive education to all.

One year after Indias educational policy was completely overhauled, it has resulted in numerous changes in the ecosystem. It replaces the 10+2 education model with the 5+3+3+4 model and mandates that education should commence at the age of three, as opposed to the previous age of six. The curriculum has been tinkered with and regional languages as a medium of instruction have been included as well. As per the new policy, there will be 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi or pre-schooling. While in the field of higher education, the government aims to raise the gross enrolment ratio to 50 per cent by 2035, along with effecting many other changes.

Recently, the government has come with some new additions to this policy.

These initiatives arethe Academic Bank of Credit and the Artificial Intelligence programmes to facilitate an open education system and prepare students for the future AI based economy.

Educationists in India see this policy as really good and transformative for Indian education with a 360-degree holistic approach that will bring it at par with global standards.

The NEP came out with the vision of transforming the education system like the much-needed tectonic shift. Its a transformative public policy as it is aimed at a blend of digital and traditional learning systems which is the need of the hour. It envisions a complete overhaul and re-energizing of the higher education system to overcome the hurdles and thereby deliver high-quality higher education, with equity and inclusion,

The completion of one year of the NEP 2020, has certainly paved the way for transformational reforms in the school and higher education systems. Students will have flexibility and autonomy in designing their course content, says Dr Silpi Sahoo,Co-founder and Chairperson, SAI International Education Group in Odisha.

The policy is meant to provide an overarching vision and a comprehensive framework for the education system across the country. Its re-envisioned so that the duration, structure, and design of the educational programmes need to match the role requirements that the students will play to help them decide on the career path that they would like to take up in their further higher education, she further says.

At the same time, the experts feel that the NEP is not only going to positively transform the future of the students, but the teachers are going to benefit immensely too.

Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla Education Academy, adding in her thoughts says, Bringing in integrated programmes such as NISHTHA 2.0 for teacher training designed by the NCERT, will protect teachers from becoming obsolete. It will help make the education industry more accessible to the teachers, aiding in their overall development. Additionally, by adding further guidelines for skill development programmes as well as by making education accessible to all sections of society, the National Education Policy truly appears to be future-ready, and we look forward to the revolutionary transformation of Indias education sector.

However, every good thing has a few grey areas too. First of all, a policy of this scale needs the support of a massive infrastructure to turn the aspirational part of the NEP into reality, which is obviously not ready or well-equipped enough to do that yet.

The other reason is the current downfall in the literacy rate.

Due to the impact of the lockdowns, the inception of online learning and other reasons, there has been a downfall in the literacy rate. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, it was 79.5 per cent in 2019. It dropped by 2 per cent in 2020 and is now at 77.7 per cent. This calls for the quick and strategic implementation of this policy.

The educationists that SME Futures spoke to have a lot to say about their take on the new education policy.

The National Education Policy, 2020 is the first education policy of the 21stcentury. It has been a year since its announcement.

On being asked about whether the implementation of the NEP 2020 is on track, education expert, Dr. Anuradha Shridhar, Head Curriculum Development and Training at Aditya Birla Education Academy, while hoping for the timely execution of this policy says, The government task forces have been set up across various states to study its implementation and address the various challenges. The government dashboard too will monitor and track the ongoing work. Higher education institutes are working on integrating curricular areas, which is going to be an area of challenge. Now, I can hope that things can be rolled out in phases for the NEP as per the timeline.

She strongly believes that the NEP is overall a plan for the major transformation of the education sector.

When the NEP came around everyone welcomed the new policy with gusto, and there were discussions all around given that we were in the online space, and everyone could afford to give their views. But at this stage I feel that there are some important questions we need to ask, she says.

According to her those questions areWill India be ready to roll it out by the 2023 timeline in the classrooms, both in the K-12 space and in the higher education space?

Will the teachers be trained?

Are the policies outlined? How will the assessments work? And many more questions remain in addition to those.

These questions have arisen at a time when the work on this policy has been going on at a frantic pace behind-the-scenes.

The government, the policymakers, the CBSE and the board officials have been working relentlessly to build the proper framework.

181 tasks are to be completed as part of the NEP 2020, as identified by the education ministry. Earlier this year, the government announced a phased policy implementation plan titled Students and Teachers Holistic Advancement through Quality Education (SARTHAQ). Which represents the NEP roadmap for the next ten years.

Besides that, the ministry will set up a review committee which will monitor the progress of these various tasks. And the officials associated with it will be held accountable in case of any lapses or discrepancies.

Another expert in the field Neha Parti, DirectorSchools at Quest Alliance, a non-profit organisation, feels that the progress has been slow.

While the ministry for human resource development (MHRD) has made certain efforts to aid in bringing the NEP to life, the progress has been slow, she asserts.

Talking about the introduction of key efforts such as SARTHAQa guideline to implement the policy, Parti says, Its adoption has been dependent on the initiatives taken by the various states themselves. These have largely been limited to the setting up of task forces to interpret the NEP and develop the implementation plans. Apart from the roadmap, there seems to be a lack of definitive milestones.

The NEP is an ambitious project and to expedite its implementation, the government needs to reach the very last mile in the ecosystem. But there are many challenges that need to be overcome before that can happen.

Parti tells us that translating the understanding of the NEP at the last mile is a challenge. In our own capacity-building workshops, we have found that the teachers struggle to grasp the policy document and its implications, she asserts.

Which can be a roadblock in implementation.

Prof Marwah of JK Business School agrees, saying, The present education regime excludes formal training and orientation towards pedagogy for college and university educators. This calls for curriculum design revamps to make it more flexible and organic for enabling foundational and higher-order thinking and skill inculcation at different levels of education.

Shridhar also adds in, saying, To this end, it will require good guidance and teacher skilling from experts who have a thorough understanding of the NEP requirements like the holistic report card, interdisciplinary subject teaching and competency-based curriculum planning.

The fact is that the teachers of today are the products of the old education system. Many times, it has been noted and media reports have also shown that the quality of the teachers has been questioned by many. Experts suggest that this calls for continuous professional development trainings to improve the quality of the current teaching system.

Training the government teachers is a humongous task for CPD. I believe that there is the need for a dedicated programme for consistent teacher training to sustain the quality of the currently employed teachers, says Sahoo of SAI InternationalEducationGroup.

Whereas the cost of CPD is another recurring expense.

To put it simply, there is a stringent need to restructure the training of the existing teachers according to the new curriculum, especially in the rural regions. This is another big task for the government.

The Indian education sector needs more teachers.

Capacity building within the education departments to bring about comprehensive change remains a task.

On this, Parti says, There is a need for collaborative and consolidated efforts by various stakeholders at the state level to come together and chart a new vision for education. It requires state education departments to design a change management process to make the NEP a reality.

Another fact on which the government needs to align its focus is on the availability of educators. For a long time, there has been a dearth of trained teachers.

According to the latest data, the total number of teachers in 2019-20 was 9.68 million (surge of more than 250,000 from 2018-19). But the study predicts that the number for 2020-21 may vary or reduce as an aftermath of the pandemic. We will know the outcome of that in 2022.

On the other hand, the figures from the Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (2020) reveal that 23 per cent of the total posts for teachers (including elementary and secondary levels) under Samagra Shiksha are vacant.

The states with comparatively higher vacancies includeJharkhand (48 per cent), Uttarakhand (39 per cent), Kerala (39 per cent), and Karnataka (33 per cent).

The NEP also talks about vocational training in schools. Its execution will be impossible without bringing in trained experts or professionals as teachers into the classrooms. For example, a normal teacher cant teach carpentry, or how to use tools or the differences between various kinds of woods. This fact has created another challenge for the stakeholders.

There is a need for focused attention towards teacher capacity-building and for ensuring that the requisite number of teachers and resources are present within the schools to complete the policy provisions and translating this into action will require a systemic overhaul in the processes like teacher recruitments, the growth pathways and the ongoing support systems available for them, suggests Parti.

While the policy does touch upon these aspects, the on-ground reality is that the initiatives for policy implementation remain restricted to isolated instances of teacher workshops and trainings, content revision or digital content production.

At the same time, this argument doesnt consider the fact that in the NEP draft, the implementation of the various programmes is heavily reliant upon the Anganwadi workers. And they are already overburdened by their public health and nutrition duties in the process of delivering quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

The policy says that the Anganwadi workers or teachers with 10+2 or above qualifications shall be given a 6-month certification programme in ECCE. While those with lower qualifications will be given a one-year diploma programme covering early literacy, numeracy, and other relevant aspects of the ECCE.

But the question is, how much can they learn in this timeframe?

Experts feel that the government should plan degree-equivalent in-service courses to adequately prepare the facilitators, enabling them to take pre-primary and primary education to a world-class level.

Like for everything else nowadays, the pandemic has been a huge dampener for the education sector as well.

Reverse migration, job loss, economic loss and the shift to the online space have been detrimental to education. There has been a significant surge in the dropout rates. Government data suggests that this rate in India is more than 17 per cent at the secondary school level. While the dropout rates at the upper-primary (VI to VIII) and primary levels are 1.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.

These numbers will have a direct impact on the implementation of the NEP, feels Dr. Shridhar.

Two years in the life of the students have gone by without being in a physical classroom space due to which there are huge learning gaps. It will take a year or two to bridge these learning gaps in terms of the students skills of comprehension, understanding and application, she says.

Once all students have been brought to the same level, one can think of slowly and parallelly rolling out the NEP reforms and the new NCF, she continues. This is easier said than done since it requires governance, teacher understanding and most importantly robust implementation at the grassroots level, Dr. Shridhar further comments.

Parti also feels the same and according to her, the NEP and its implementation have taken a back seat due to the pandemic.

Due to the lockdown and with the schools closed, the state departments have been compelled to focus on ensuring that learning is available to all the children, as well as in ensuring the mental well-being of both the children and the teachers. As the country begins opening up, they are now focused on devising a safe school reopening plan. Amidst all of these pressing concerns, the NEP implementation seems to have taken a backseat, she points out.

To implement the NEP, to build capacity or to reach the last mile, the education sector needs infrastructure. In other words, it requires funding!

Which the educators believe is lacking in this sector.

In fact, there were no separate funds for the NEP 2020 in the budget announced this year, which further discouraged them.

Lets break it down numerically to give you a better picture.

The education ministry requested Rs 10.37 lakh crores under the 15th Finance Commission (2021-26) to implement the NEP 2020. This equates to Rs 2 lakh crores per year. However, the budget announced in February was cut short by Rs 6,037 crores.

The funds allocated for 2021-22 were Rs 93,224 crores, 6.13 per cent lower than the previous budget of Rs 99,312 crores for 2020-21.

The education sector was dissatisfied with what they got, as it stood in total contrast with what the government wanted to achieve with the NEP 2020.

At the same time, the policy stipulates that public investment in education should be up to 6 per cent of the GDP. Which has been a goal since the national policy of 1968 and has yet to be achieved. While the current investment has only reached to 3.1 per cent, as per the Economic Survey.

Considering this, the education fraternity is most concerned about the how part.

How will the NEP implementation succeed? How does it plan to retain students? How does it plan to enhance social and gender inclusion? And many more such questions abound.

Under the NEP, the aim is to build school complexes or clusters, ideally one per district across the country. Besides that, it talks about pleasant classroom spaces, safe and clean drinking water, playgrounds and other amenities. All these to be met in a funding of only 3.1 per cent of the GDP seems like a task, and I ask, how it is going to happen? says Sahoo.

Funding is a hurdle hampering the NEPs implementation in the higher education sector. Private institutions too need to offer more scholarships to make admissions possible for the students who belong to the low-income strata, but the NEP fails to discuss how this can be achieved. This indicates a great need for large public funding in higher education, which in reality does not fit well within the current scenario, says Marwah.

According to some experts, the central and state governments will face significant financial liabilities as a result of this; they will need to find an additional 6.4 lakh cores. Therefore, funding for policy implementation is the most significant challenge for them.

It also implies that schools and colleges are going to increase their fees to fulfil their targets.

The increase in the education budget from 3 per cent to 6 per cent of the GDP is simply not enough to meet the implementation needs. Lastly, our country still lags in digital penetration. The digital divide is a very big hindrance in the way of the NEP, adds Marwah.

Due to COVID-19, there has been a dynamic shift in the education sector. Lately, online or hybrid education has become the mode of learning, indicating the need to establish a robust digital infrastructure.

But in the current scenario this is not the case, and we have been left grappling with the huge learning gaps that have been engendered due to the pandemic and the lack of a proper digital infrastructure.

Thats why during the lockdowns, many students were deprived of education, and scores of them just dropped out.

Being a diverse and a developing nation, around 65 per cent of our population is rural and 8.5 per cent of the population resides in the tribal belt. Where the connectivity of roads and electricity and the internet is not at par with the urban or semi urban areas. Reaching out to these areas is a herculean task especially when the NEP 2020 stresses on technology driven education. But a big challenge here is establishing a digital infrastructure that caters even to the remote areas, says Sahoo.

To strengthen the infrastructure digitally or otherwisethe only way is to bring in a huge investment in this sector. How the funding for that is going to be managed, is yet another challenge.

To overcome this financial challenge, one way is to collaborate in the form of the PPP model, i.e., a public-philathropist partnership. Huge private investments are also equally essential for strengthening infrastructure. However, this ultimately leads to more privatisation of the education sector despite all the precautionary measures mentioned in the policy.

If the provisions in the NEP are to become a reality, there is a need to bring about mindset shifts at all levels, say the experts.

Though the policy seeks to bring about a holistic change in the education system of India, its success depends on the will and way in which it will be implemented, feels Sahoo.

According to Dr. Shridhar, the crises of the past two years have done a lot of damage to the education system. Further, the implementation of the NEP at an India level is too overwhelming and pressure inducing, which might lead to some discrepancies.

Students, teachers, school heads and boards have gone through a lot of uncertainty in the past two years and are still struggling. The NEP implementation will put a lot of pressure on them. Further, since they have been only experimenting with new technologies and new ways of teaching and learning, the zeal to learn the new needs to be subdued because at the moment, the teachers are tired, she avers.

More than anything the willingness to unlearn and learn needs to be there, she adds.

On the other hand, Dr. Marwah posits a different argument.

He believes that although technology is a great enabler, it also limits us. It connects people but has its own set of limitations as far as teaching and learning are concerned. The NEP is extremely experiential and palpable, and it cannot be brought into full action through online devices alone, he said.

The essence of the NEP essentially lies in learning through observation, listening, exploring, experimenting, and asking questions. All of these are hands-on experiences, which require interest, motivation, engagement, and the need for children to understand why they are learning. As a nation and society, it is very important to take the NEP more seriously. Thus, every step ought to be taken to ensure that the NEP is implemented in letter and spirit and in an expedited manner, he suggests.

For the implementation of the NEP, there are many other measures that need to be taken to ensure the flexibility and feasibility of this policy in our education system.

Dr. Marwah puts forth some of them. Firstly, it should be made mandatory for institutions to shift from the content-driven curriculum that earlier inspired rote learning to applied learning. Secondly, institutions should design a 360-degree assessment model that covers the overall well-being of the students.

Last but not least, educational institutions should bet big on experiential learning. This can be done by inculcating vocational skills and encouraging mathematical thinking among the students and by teaching them modern-day subjects like data science, machine learning, robotics, analytics, coding etc.

Finally, a fundamental shift from what to think to how to think is the need of the hour.

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The paradoxes and challenges remain, say educationists after analysing the National Education Policy 2020 - SME Futures