Coronavirus Impact: MHRD Asks Universities to Study How India Handled 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic
The MHRD has written a letter to the universities asking them to study how India handled the Spanish Flu of 1918. It also asks them to research the nearby villages and the level of awareness they have regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ministry of Human Resource and Development or MHRD asked the universities to go through the lesson learnt by observing how India dealt with the Spanish flu pandemic. In 1918, India handled the flu smartly and took wise measures to boost the economy of the nation. The MHRD also advised the universities to establish research teams and study the awareness levels that villages around their campus have regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic.
A senior ministry official communicated with the universities and stated that the HRD Minister wants the universities to study how India handled the H1N1 Virus (Spanish Flu) in 1918. He wants them to closely observe the measures that the country took to re-accelerate the economy of the nation after the pandemic had run its course. More than 12 to 17 million people were left dead in India due to the spread of Spanish Flu.
Adding further, MHRD desired that the institutions and universities in India should go through the awareness levels that villages around the universities and institutions possess. He also wants them to take into account how they withstood the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
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The ministry of HRD wrote a letter and urged the academic institutions and universities to come forth with brilliant research contributions that have the potential to aid the nation’s fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
A source in the HRD Ministry elaborated on the same and said that the letter was basically written to ask the universities to visit their archives and find out how the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic was handled in terms of economy and public health.
It is to be noted that thousands of people have already come in the clutches of the virus and are healing in the hands of the top-notch medical experts. The virus seems unstoppable and is spreading like a wildfire. In such a scenario, any contribution, be it academic, medical or financial, would only help India in healing better and faster.
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The education system of the country has been hugely impacted by the coronavirus. Zillions of students are forced to study from home through the medium of online classes or self-study. Universities and colleges have suspended the classes keeping in mind the nation-wide lockdown amid the attack of coronavirus. Numerous exams have also been postponed or cancelled due to the same reason.