CM Yogi Adityanath talks to a teenager waiting to receive a Covid vaccine at the Civil Hospital in Lucknow Monday. Photo: Vishal Srivastav Over 1.5 lakh teenagers received the first dose of vaccine across 2,000 centres in Uttar Pradesh as the government launched Covid vaccination programme for 15-18 years old on Monday. The state government also announced a two-day leave — the day they are vaccinated and the one after —for all those getting vaccinated.
As the order would come into effect Tuesday onwards, many school students were seen queueing up outside vaccination centres in their school dresses. As online lectures replaced regular classes during the pandemic, these students watched their lives change overnight, social distancing restricted physical interactions.
Many students, especially those studying in class 10 and 12, are reeling under uncertainty over if the recent surge in Covid-19 and Omicron cases would cast a shadow on their studies or if there would be another lockdown.
The Indian Express got a peak of what is going into the minds of these young adults during a visit to a vaccination centre set up at the Government Jubilee Hostel in Lucknow’s Qaiserbagh.
As one enters the school, you can see a long queue of boys waiting for their turn to be vaccinated.
These boys said that most of them were students of the Government Jubilee Inter College and had been given a break from their classes.
Standing in a row were a few class 10 students, who had reached the centre early morning and near them two sections of Class 11. “We have been here for the past 30 minutes. We were asked to come with our Aadhar cards and the registration was done here only. My entire family has been vaccinated. I was the only one left and had to face all restrictions,” said Ashish Shukla, a student of class 11 at Government Jubilee Inter College.
However, he is also worried about the future. “We are more worried about what will happen to our classes. Last year, we only attended online classes. It is not the same thing as attending physical classes, especially for board students. We were allowed to come to school only in August and now cases have started rising again,” he added.
Sixteen-year-old Prashant Sonkar, who is a student of class 10 at the same school, says, “I am afraid that the upcoming elections in our state would spoil things further and have an impact on our exams. There is too much pressure on me already, my father is a sanitation worker and my mother is an Anganwadi worker in Gonda district. I have to perform well, so that I can get a good job but I am afraid that these rising cases and the upcoming elections might lead to the closure of classes.”
“Election karwa denge par exam rukwa denge (They will let elections happen but not our exams),” rued Prashant. Ashish, who is standing close, says, “Humara board to kharab ho hi gaya tha (Our board exams were already affected.”
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