Reopening of schools

There are talks about reopening of schools and colleges this month and I would like to express my views on it.

I, like many other students as well as their parents, are confused about this. While a part of me wishes for schools to reopen, my mind tells me it is not the right time as the Covid-19 infection is still very much around. Maybe we have stopped fearing it so much because everything else has opened up and we see people going around without even masks.

But the fact remains that thousands of people are falling sick and dying around the world and there is still no medicine or vaccine. What is the loss of a few months or a year of our academic life if it means that we will stay safe and live for the rest of our lives.

I have seen people in my family and acquaintances falling ill due to this virus and it engulfs the whole family. And the worst part is that no one can comfort a sick person or a household because of the fear of catching the infection themselves.

I think we can easily give up a few months of fun, activities and get-togethers to remain safe. Going to school means exposing ourselves, though children and youngsters are less prone to the severe form of this disease, and the many adults who take part in running a school. We are putting all of them at risk.

Online classes are still going on in most schools, so let us continue that was until a vaccine and medicine is found. We should rather be safe than sorry.

Amina Fawad,

Karachi

Nature needs conservation

I read the article “Nature needs conservation” by Kamal Ahmed Qureshi, (Young World, July 25, 2020), with great interest. In a marvellous way the writer tried to create awareness about the harmful impact of the excessive use of plastic, burning of fossil fuels and cutting down of tree on a large scale.

These things are causing serious damage to our environment and giving rise to diseases such as respiratory problems and cancer, etc. Factories producing harmful wastes causing various diseases have shut down in the wake of lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. This has given time to nature to recover from the negative impact of environmental degradation.

The emission of greenhouse also decreased as a result and hopefully it will have a positive impact on global temperatures. But a lockdown of this scale is not a solution of this, as it too has its own side effects, like unemployment due to which people are suffering economically.

We need to increase green areas by planting more and more trees and reducing the use of fossil fuels to improve our environment.

Qasim Raza,

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 8th, 2020