Weekend lockdown

Punjab has done well to impose a weekend lockdown to check the community spread of Covid-19. The police are already performing their duty well and are risking their lives to check the uncalled mobility of citizens. It is equally important for the people to be responsible and comply. The state has also made it easier for people to obtain e-passes in case movement is required.

Harpreet Sandhu, Ludhiana

Zone-wise shopping

Even in not-so-big cities like Amritsar, Covid-19 is spreading drastically. But it’s not possible for all to stay at home, as they have to go out to buy essentials. This is causing crowds to gather. To check this, different parts of a city should be allowed to go out on different days. The same for shops. Shops selling non-essential items should only be allowed to open twice a week. An ambulance and a PCR should be provided at every colony.

Sehtejpal S Khehra, Amritsar

Who is responsible?

Apropos of ‘Man with asthma left to die on road’ (June 13); who is responsible for this death? The ambulance staff refused to ferry him to the hospital as they were without PPE kits. In a similar case, in Punjab, a suspected Covid patient refused to board the ambulance as it was dirty. Was any responsibility fixed? If such is the sorry state of ambulances, which lack essential equipment, it speaks volumes of our healthcare system’s preparedness to fight the virus.

Ashok Kumar, Jalandhar

Digitalising education

Apropos of ‘Holding exams risky’ (June 13), corona’s unbridled spiral should be a signal enough to extend the date of closure of schools till the situation normalises. The government, bearing the direct responsibility of looking after the education of poor children, should make a bold endeavour to shift its strategy from offering freeships in cash to procuring smartphones for all such children in order to digitalise education faster. Teachers should also be given training to equip them with digitalising the curriculum. The aim should be to bring the government schools to the level of private schools, if not better.

S Kumar, Panchkula

Pressure of exams

Many states have announced to promote the students on the basis of their internal assessment and their previous year’s results. But there are still some states where practical or written exams are given priority and not the internals and assignments of the students, who are now facing difficulties. Some way should be found out so as to be able to resolve the problem.

Priyanka Verma, Mohali

Choices, right & wrong

Refer to ‘Let’s enable students to make the right choices’ (June 13); as a student of class XII, I could relate to the article. If a student is helped to find his real self at an early age, he/she would make the right choices as per interests and would not be influenced by anyone. But this self-realisation is inculcated by a parent, and then, a teacher, who implants the first seed to assist us in distinguishing between right and wrong. Then the role of the student starts. At this stage, self-realisation helps to break this dilemma.

Jashan Goyal, Bathinda

River pollution, again

Business activities were closed due to the lockdown, and the sky was blue and our rivers were clear, since the spectre of pollution was removed. Now, commercial activities have resumed and effluents from factories are flowing into the rivers. Thousands of fish died due to effluents from Himachal factories flowing into the Sirsa river. This has been going on for the past 20 years, but has been ignored by the governments. The licence of such factories should be cancelled and strict action taken.

Nikita Sharma, by mail

Academic excellence

The editorial on NIRF rankings (June 13) rightly pleads for a qualitative uplift for the educational and research institutions of the region. The stature of the PGIMER is a result of that vision. Only two factors are responsible for excellence at the institutional level. On is the selection of competent specialists and second is not compromising with merit during recruitment. These factors have largely been adhered to in the case of the PGI and results are there to see.

VK Anand, Chandigarh

Read to write

Refer to the middle ‘In bleak times, reach for a book’; during the lockdown, I was worried about how to utilise my free time. It had been long since I had read a book. I managed to read five books in a fortnight. It does help you to explore the imagination of the author, and also teaches you to enhance your writing skills.

Jagampal Singh, Patiala

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