How students responded to Covid-19 third wave restrictions.

"With respect to education in Kenya, there shal be the immediate suspension of all ongoing physical learning in all our education institutions including Universities, Tertiary, and Vocational Colleges, other than for candidates sitting for their examinations and those in medical training institutions until otherwise notified." This was a statement made by the president in his speech to curb the spread of the third wave Coronavirus. It came as a blow to the university students since everyone had hopes that the year 2021 would not resemble the year 2020 and much was expected to happen this year only to get our hopes shuttered. Those who were supposed to graduate this year will again have to reschedule their plans after studying for more than six years.

As it is known by many people, after such speeches memelords are always on their toes to making statements that draw people's attention. "(Ama Uhuru amesoma speech ya last year. One semester per year graduation 2030. Niende ama ningoje memo, )" such were the memes that circulated in our phones. Even though some were laughable, on the otherside they were touching and one could feel the pain of travelling back home and not knowing when they would finish their studies. The Universities Presidents Council of Kenya-UPC expressed their displeasure in the immediate closure of institutions and urged that the learners in their final year especially those in their final semester in strict adherence of covid-19 protocols should be considered to finalize their degree thus proceeding with examinations and exit institutions henceforth.

My sister calls me and tells me that they have been informed by their university management that they will be doing their studies online. When one thinks of studying online and all the expenses of the data that you will have to use for a whole week, and you'll have to plan for it because the universities do not provide data. Studying online comes with many challenges. Students who come from remote areas are mostly affected because they are not in a good range of network in order to stay connected through out the whole session.

Another challenge is that many students are not able to access the laptops, the tablets and phones so as to do online study and make it easier for them and so for me its like we are back to 2020 again hoping that we will finish school and things go as planned by God. The presidents speech comes just after the university students made a complaint about their helb money and weeks later it was resolved. The big issue is that this money has been of no use to them because some are not even sure if they will continue with their studies or ever finish their studies. 

"I'm more than devastated because i do not know what the future really holds for me. In Kenya after studying for the four years, you again have to tamack for another five years for you to get a job and for my case, I take architecture which I have studied for six years and was hoping to graduate this year but that will not be the case for me with the third wave restrictions being put in place by the president," explains Ruth. Ruth and any other architectural student in the Technical University of Kenya will have to continue with their studies online. " But even if we study online what about the experiments and practices that cannot be done online? This is where we see the challenges of studying online and some of us end up not understanding what we are being taught well," adds Ruth.

Technically, everything is changing and it has become so difficult for everyone to come to terms with how Coronavirus has made things more difficult and challenging for everyone.