Why Students Must Adapt to COVID-19

A few months ago, I watched my favourite economist give his views on national TV about the
Corona Virus and the Economy. Key from the debate was that people needed to shift from the post
Covid-19 mindset and begin adapting to the pandemic which has caused a great disruption in the
socio-economic space. To my mind, what has not been given the attention it very much deserves
is the effect of the pandemic on students particularly those that have attained the age of majority
that is 18 years in Kenya.
You see, majority of students’ minds in Kenya are programmed in such a manner that without
education or learning engagement, they easily fall into depression due to the lack of engagement.
What comes after depression is either an addiction to deal with the emotional trauma or a
determined effort to overcome the depression. The latter has proven difficult to achieve through a
personal initiative. I will endeavor to explain the genesis of the problem as follows: our education
system is designed for conservatives and not progressives. This creates a situation of conservatism
among students which is a hindrance to progress and change. Conservatism is the political
conviction of those who are already benefitting from the system as it is, so they want it to be
“conserved.” Our universities for instance are taken to be training places for the workplace instead
of being places where knowledge is accessed by and instilled into the learners. This is the source
of the problem the society now faces with students who are restrained at home due to the pandemic.
Ideally, during a crisis of this magnitude, the learners especially those that have reached the higher
learning stage should offer solutions and be the source of creative outlet inorder to enable younger
junior students to continue being engaged in different activities even when they are at home. But
not our Kenyan university students. Whereas the government has rolled out measures to cushion
the economy and for social protection, this is an area that has gone unnoticed to a great extent. The
Ministry of Education has been going back and forth on the issue of reopening of schools in an
attempt to solve the current crisis to no avail. Reopening of schools at this moment I think will just
serve as an “apron” tactic. The analogy of the “apron tactic” goes as follows: when you put on an
apron, it doesn’t cover your entire body. It just covers a part of your body to prevent dirt from
getting to your clothes when you cook for example or perform another task that could potentially
make you dirty. This is exactly what happens with reopening of schools un-strategically so as to
control the problems which have arisen due to the students’ long stay at home. It doesn’t solve the
long-term problems we have in education which have since been exposed by the Corona Virus
stalemate. It simply acts as an “apron” to our problem.
Students need to adapt to Covid-19 for a start. They should find out ways of navigating life when
school is out of the picture. I believe the knowledge acquired in school can directly or indirectly
be used purposefully to help society. To put so much trust on education policy to fix their structural
problems I believe is beside the point. I call upon fellow students and youth to: learn a new skill during this period; venture into an apprenticeship; use social media to their advantage; read books; write blogs just for a start.
Every individual has a talent, use this to your advantage to keep being engaged. In a system where
students need to get into a debt inorder to learn at campus, there is every possible reason not to
trust the current policy to solve our crises and instead take the initiative ourselves in an attempt to
solve the issue at hand. Adapting to Covid-19 is the first step.
By
Allan Wasonga,
Auditor at Grohney & Co. Associates,
allan@grohney.co.ke