Author: praptic06

ARE COACHING CENTRES REALLY WORTH IT?

This is probably the biggest question in the head of almost all the incoming high schoolers. Should I join Allen? or maybe Aakash? or maybe do an Online coaching?

You know, you should consider working by yourself. Many a times the power of self study is left behind and children are forced into such coaching’s forcefully even without considering what they want to study. The Indian mentality in families has always been either IIT or AIIMS. It has never been anything else, If a science student plan on pursuing a a humanities degree. It is something for the parent to be worried about.

Now back to the topic, are they worth it? I would personally say they are not. They unnecessarily pressurize the student to another version of themselves. For some students it might be something they want but majority of the case there is an increase of psychological stress and physical stress on the individual. There are examinations held on a fortnight basis in such places and the difficulty levels are much higher than what a lot of people expect it to be. The low marks after the exam are another bad factor playing in depression and suicides. India widely observes a large number of student suicides only due to this. Places such as Kota, ignore all the needs of a student and only focus on the academic path of the student. Many times, due to the absence of friends and parents, students feel like no one supports them and they feel worthless which again causes a variety of problems.

The first way to see through all this would be for the parents and students to think this through as coaching centre may have their own pros and cons, many students would consider the pros over the cons and that is okay. Just think about it before you jump into anything!

A memoir of school days

Life was simple and easy, when I was of 3 years and walked into school everyday. It was a time of fun and pain. The new environment away from my mother and father which made me uncomfortable but eventually made me feel happy. Soon time flew and I started growing mentally and physically. Few years later I was allowed to wrap my own books and pack my food, it gave me a sense of supremacy and pride to go to school. Sitting and having everyone’s lunch except mine and buying the delicious chocolates from the canteen will always hold a close place to me. As I grew, the pressure of exams also did. School was soon more of a headache than fun now. Every 2 months I would have to get up in the morning just to open the same book I had been reading for the past 20 days. Time flew and I saw myself in the class of a 12th grader. What? It’s my last year? I looked back at all the times I spent at the same campus having the same food, playing in the same ground. I could not bare the thought of leaving and graduating. Soon, I had my graduation day and it was going to be my last day as a part of the institution. It made me really nostalgic looking around at the group of people I had grown up with and now I will never mostly even see them again in my life.

I was glad to have experienced everything as right after the pandemic had struck and life had suddenly become so monotonous. Sitting at home doing nothing, I realized that school was the one which kept my hands busy and now I feel restless due to the absence of my friends and the environment. The place will always hold a very dear place in my heart and to all the people who were not able to go there for their final years due to the pandemic, Just cherish everything you had before, Trust me, It’s all worth it!

IS INDIA STILL UP IN THE RACE OF VACCINATIONS?

The race of vaccinations is what has been keeping every country right now in their toes. The race has many heroes such as US with its Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Astrazeneca and many other countries too. India though, is an unsung hero when it comes to this race. There have been recent developments in the vaccine status in our country. As the roll out of the 18+ category has been initiated the country is moving in an immense speed to get its citizens vaccinated. The two readily available vaccines right now in the Indian market are the Covishield and Covaxin. There is also the recent availability of the Sputnik V vaccine which is not an Indian vaccination but a Russian native vaccination.

Questions have arised as to which of the two are better but there is no legitimate proof as to which is better. Both have shown almost the same efficacy and affects on the human population. Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine which actually contains the dead coronavirus. When the vaccination is injected inside an individuals body, an immune response is triggered which initiates the body to fight against the virus but while the body does so the individual does not show any major symptoms. The efficacy of the vaccine is about 81% which was found in the phase 3 trials. Covishield, the vaccine produced by SII with coordination with Astrazeneca, this vaccine is based on the working of a viral vector which is planted into the body. Its made from a weakened version of an Adenovirus found in Chimpanzees. The efficacy rate of this vaccine is about 70% and is given in a much larger gap than that of Covaxin. Sputnik V is also based on a similar mechanism as Covishield, the adenovirus mechanism. This vaccination shows an efficacy rate of 92% though.

Are Indian vaccines safe? They are extremely safe and have a very good immunogenic response among all the age groups which have been administered with it. There have been immense research and more production day by day in indian facilities for new vaccinations. The only problem lying with the population of India is the ever lasting mentality that these vaccinations are not safe. Due to the large population size and ratio in India vaccinations are going to take sometime to reach the ends of the country and due to many misconceptions people tend to fall for myths about the vaccinations. India has fallen behind in only this one area due to the negligence of its people when the vaccines were first administered and released due to which there was a huge delay in the roll out of the vaccines.

It is our responsibility as citizens to create more awareness among people who still believe to have a taboo against vaccines and individuals spreading fake news. Only we can help ourselves and our country to move ahead and beat the virus!!

THE VANISHING RAINBOW

As we all are aware, June is pride month I want to make a mention of how the pandemic has given a certain impact on The LGBTQ community or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community is one of the most actively growing communities in today’s world. The Covid-19 pandemic is the most recent world tragedy which has caused a lot of tension among various groups of people psychologically and physically. Under these groups, I would like to capture the plight of what the LGBTQ community is going through. Individuals belonging to this society face a lot of social disadvantages and mental health disparities and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this has been much exaggerated.

Due to this worldwide pandemic a lot of the students belonging to this community, are being forced back to their homes where they still aren’t accepted for the identity they have chosen or they are left on the streets to find their supports. The pandemic has created an utmost need for the people for mental and psychological help but due to the trauma being put through they are unable to get so. A recent study was performed on certain students and the result of the study to be found was that nearly half of LGBT college students have immediate families that do not support or know their LGBT identity. Approximately 60% of sampled LGBT college students were experiencing distress, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic.

A lot of the young individuals who still haven’t chosen to come out are undergoing major problems as well due to the growing pressure by staying around their parents who might have created an environment where there is fear being instilled. Due to this fear, people go through everything alone and choose not to ask for help due to the unavailability of easy help such as doctors and counselors. Events play a major role in creating more awareness among the group by meeting people who are similar in their thoughts and mentalities but events such as gay pride events and pride marches have all been canceled which has also severely affected the community. People are given bias when it comes to healthcare as well because of the mindset of people who haven’t learned to accept the community.

The countries which seem most developed in the run against Covid-19 still show such small theories against the community which attacks them. I would like to speak of an example of the UK where gay and bisexual men were not allowed to donate their plasma to help people out. Why? Because they were gay and bisexual. In the US, gay bars and LGBTQ-friendly pubs have been shut down due to insufficient funds and support which isn’t being provided adequately to them.

It’s saddening to see how normal human beings who have committed nothing except accepting themselves are being treated even by the higher society. I would like to personally urge everyone to help anyone they know going through a tough phase as things like this play a very important role in their lives and they would require someone with them. It might be a friend, It might be a sibling but they are still the same people even after they choose to follow a different identity.