UGC asks univs, colleges to study impact of Covid on villages

Bhubaneswar: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked all universities and affiliated colleges to conduct study on the impact of Covid-19 in nearby villages. It has also asked the institutions to facilitate parallel study on the impact of Spanish Flu or the 1918 pandemic on India.
In a letter to the vice-chancellors of universities and college principals, UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said there is a pressing need to sensitively analyse the impact of the pandemic as well as the role played by communities in agrarian parts of the country. “To effectively address the need, the institutions can facilitate the study of 5-6 villages adjoining their institutes or adopted by them,” the letter read. The UGC has asked each higher educational institution to constitute a dedicated research team which will focus on three major points – the awareness level in villages regarding Covid-19, how villages have withstood various challenges posed by the virus and the best strategies or measures adopted by them to take on such obstacles. Besides this, the institutions may also conduct a parallel study on the impact of the Spanish Flu. The team will focus on two major issues — how India handled the 1918 pandemic and what measures the country took to boost the economy after the pandemic.
The UGC has asked the institutions to submit their findings on the University Activity Monitoring Portal by June 30. It has also urged authorities to ensure that the facilitation of the study strictly adheres to the guidelines/advisories issued by the Centre and the respective state governments in respect to Covid-19.
“The current focus in the fight against the pandemic is to contain the increasing number of cases and to avoid further escalations of situations. However, the pivotal in this fight has also been protecting the village community which hosts millions of inhabitants,” said the UGC communication.
Utkal University vice-chancellor Soumendra Mohan Patnaik said they will conduct the study in their rural campus at Chandikhole in Jajpur district. “We will try to find out the socio-economic and health impact of Covid-19 on rural people. We will also focus on impact of pandemic on gender and other marginal communities like the physically challenged and the downtrodden. This study will help our policymakers to understand the impact of the pandemic,” Patnaik said.
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