By William Elijah | Staff Writer
Following the presidential order as of March 18, 2020, all public gathering points
and travel was brought to a halt in order to stop the quick spread of the deadly Corona
virus outbreak which had already attacked all the countries surrounding
Uganda (Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic republic of Congo and South
Sudan). This with immediate effect led to the closure of churches, schools, video
halls, to mention but a few. Countrywide on the issue of education, all institutions of learning
had to close with thousands of students returning home. According to president Y.K Museveni, in case schools remained operational, it would be highly risky in the case it was to be discovered that the virus was already in the country resulting into overwhelming
numbers of infected people. It was estimated that over 15 million Ugandans of school going age were in different schools and higher institutions of learning all over the country.
“Patience pains but pays, keep principled as you were in schools, soon you are to resume your studies and life will go back to normal,” Madam Dorcas advised.
In the meantime as we are almost making five months in the lock down, the
youth have totally immersed themselves in the community environment.
However, it is absurd that some of them started engaging in sinful acts
like sexual immorality, drug abuse, alcoholism, theft and so on. This behaviors
has resulted into many girls getting unwanted pregnancies, boys carrying the
burden of parenting at a young age, and others getting imprisoned, flogged after
being caught in theft but the most unfortunate part is most are not aware that the
fact that they are engaging in unsafe or unprotected sexual intercourse which
increases their risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases like Aids. In return
they start leading a life of self-condemnation with no future ambitions.
During a phone interview with madam Musubika Peruth, the director of studies at
Kyangwali Secondary School, she called upon all men and women staying home as per
the directives of the president and the ministry of health measures not to forget
that as much as the government was striving towards flattening the curve to end
the lock down, people should remember to not only take care of their health due
to the pandemic but also put overall value on their general welfare. She
reminded students to do revision and help parents with domestic activities as a
way of keeping their minds up to date. As she stated, “an idle mind is the devils workshop”.
On the side of students, we contacted Taban John, a senior four student at
Kyangwali Secondary School and was quoted sounding worried that, “I am really
not sure of going back to school soon, and when that time comes, not all students
will go back to class. Many will be dropouts especially here in the villages." On this
matter, Madam Nabanobe Dorcas, a teacher at the same school remarked that
students should not use the outbreak as an excuse for dropping out of school
especially due to the fact that it is a global issue at hand. She encouraged student
to continue pursuing their dreams regardless of the educational instabilities
brought by the pandemic.
She added that students need not to develop the evil spirit of saying “Let me test it.” Here, she meant that not all things are to be tested for it may lead them to hell. She brought this up as away of discouraging bad habits such as smoking, alcoholism and sexual intercourse. She stated, “patience pains but pays, keep principled as you were in schools, soon you are to resume your studies and life will go back to normality,” madam Dorcas advised.
Given the situation on ground, we strongly urge all students to treasure
their lives as they follow the guidelines enacted by the ministry of health and the
president in the fight against corona virus. In addition to that keeping away from
bad peer groups which may lead them to bad behaviors as this is the high time to
work towards preparing themselves for a better post-corona period.
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