The corona virus outbreak has presented a range of new challenges to democracy and human rights. Repressive regimes have responded to the pandemic in ways that serve their political interests, often at the expense of public health and basic freedoms. Even open societies face pressure to accept restrictions that may outlive the crisis and have a lasting effect on liberty. Based on this topic the RS Conference by
Cate School, California and Andrew’s School, Florida was organized jointly on 3
rd May 2021 in which Sunbeam School, Varanasi, Birla Public School, Pilani, Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun, schools from Peru, New York, Dubai and many more countries participated.
The fun packed experience started with a virtual tour of campus of both the host schools after which participants of RKK - Divya Ladha, Tejasvini Rathore, Khushboo Vyas, Deeksha Garg, Pranjal Soni, Shreya Garg with Teacher Incharge Perminder Meena got divided into breakout rooms where they interacted with other schools, had an icebreaking session and shared their views on whether freedom is more important or one’s safety.
The conference became more inquisitive with inspiring thoughts shared by the first Keynote Speaker- Joe Cohn, FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Director who talked about how the youth can contribute for the greater good of the society, freedom of speech, black lives and sacrificing one's rights and freedom for betterment of society which motivated the participants a lot. To carry forward the discussion, the delegates were again divided into breakout rooms where they discussed what steps government took at initial phase on corona virus and what was prioritized by the government- personal freedom, or country's safety . This platform also enabled the participants to know a lot about other countries’ situation during the world wide pandemic.
After this healthy discussion there was a small break where rejuvenating guitar tracks by the host school refreshed the mood of everyone. The second Keynote Speaker, Mr Mattew Hipps enlightened the audience about the beneficial policies of the government, economic policies and strategies formulated
for the country and challenges faced by the government during these crucial times. To put forward views on this topic, delegates further discussed it in their breakout rooms. With heavy hearts but with lot of inspiration, the session came to an end giving new start to the thoughts of the young participants.
