Now, her name features among the small set of women in power who are lauded globally for their response to the crisis. The Indian edition of fashion and lifestyle magazine Vogue paid tribute to K K Shailaja, fondly called as ‘Teacher’, who made headlines for her work in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and featured her on the list of ‘Women of 2020’.

In a country where women rarely occupy high-profile public offices as much as the sea of men, this former high school chemistry teacher and first-time state health minister has won many hearts for being extremely approachable and caring.

Vogue lauded the steadfast efforts of the Shailaja Teacher for her swift action along with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and their co-ordinated efforts that brought down cases in Kerala to almost zero at a time. She was hailed as ‘The Coronavirus Slayer’ and it is not just for her perscient action in controlling the pandemic but for keeping Nipah at bay.

To honour Shailaja’s sturdy hand, which is “more than fear”and all about the “enthusiasm to get involved”, Vogue has even changed its Twitter display picture to Shailaja featuring on their cover page.

What the minister brought more to the table when things went awry is perhaps a little more empathy and transperancy and an uncanny ability to smile in the face of uncertainties.

Netizens were elated to find the corona warrior being honoured by Vogue’s Women of the Year for ‘cohesive leadership and systematic approach’towards the pandemic.

This is really special @VOGUEIndia . So cool. https://t.co/KglNrSeGsx

— Faye DSouza (@fayedsouza) November 9, 2020

Earlier this year in June, the United Nations had honoured Shailaja for Kerala’s efficient management of pandemic. Fast forward to November 2020, she is still considered one of the few world woman leaders, who had accurately responded to the outbreak of the global pandemic, reports Vogue.

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The online edition of the magazine in its citation says, “It’s a disease of the body, but it has redefined the requirements for a great mind. In the last issue, we renewed a Prospect tradition and identified 50 top world thinkers. It was an all-new list for the Covid-19 age, since the mood called for thinking of a different sort—less chin-stroking, more hands on. Then 20,000-odd votes were cast and counted in a public ballot. The results are in, and represent a landslide win for the practical minds party.

The top spot was overwhelmingly secured by a figure who—on first blush—is as far from a caricature intellectual of the Jean-Paul Sartre variety as you can get. That’s not quite right since, like Sartre, KK Shailaja is a communist, albeit from a party created to keep its distance from Soviet Moscow. It helps run the state of Kerala in south India, where Shailaja or “Teacher,” as she is fondly nicknamed due to a previous occupation, is the indefatigable health minister.
So deft was her handling of a 2018 outbreak of the deadly Nipah disease that it was commemorated in a film, Virus. In 2020, she was the right woman in the right place. When Covid-19 was still “a China story” in January, she not only accurately foresaw its inevitable arrival, but also fully grasped the implications.

She rapidly got the WHO’s full “test, trace and isolate” drill implemented in the state, and bought crucial time by getting a grip of the airports, and containing the first cases to arrive on Chinese flights. Of course the virus returned, but there was rigorous surveillance and quarantine—sometimes in makeshift structures. The public messages have been consistent, and Shailaja follows them to the letter, with social distancing in all official meetings (which can go on until 10pm) and restricting herself to a Zoom-only relationship with her grandchildren.

Cases and deaths were kept remarkably low into the summer, although as it drew to a close they began to grow fast—just as Shailaja had warned they would. Still, as we go to press, confirmed Covid-19 deaths in the state—which has average incomes an order of magnitude lower than Britain’s, and just over half the population—were not yet 1 per cent of ours. And hopefully Shailaja’s masterclass in public administration will boost the odds in the next and more difficult phase.”

The second spot, earned in a similar way, went to Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, whose governing “ethos of kindness” was drawing interest as a refreshing (if hazy) alternative to neo-liberalism even before it showed practical results in keeping a lid on the crisis. Just behind her is the Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, another woman applying her mind to a pressing practical challenge, although in her case it is climate change: she designs houses on stilts to keep families safe from rising waters.

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