A Blessing In Disguise

According to Mahid AbdulKarim, recently the world was faced with a virus which affected its economy, growth, development, business and mostly educational sector. And it has befallen the world again by a virus called Covid-19. Every one’s life has taken a turn in the past few months including mine. Learning, hobbies, and some other things have changed. In this article I would like to share my experience during this Covid-19 pandemic.

    I and my friends in school writing exam, were a week to the closure of our third term academic session when the virus hit the world strongly unlike the other viruses.  Especially in my country Nigeria, it affected every sector including educational sector greatly in which I think that everything has come to an end. Have you ever finished a task before you noticed that you had done something wrong in the beginning which will force you to start over again? This is a totally different situation with the exact same heartbreak outcome. Unfortunately for  me, my school was asked  to go on lockdown till further notice which  led to six months of lockdown at home, and now my dream of going into another higher level of education was thwarted.

 Online learning has come up. Schools and universities around the country are currently hosting online classes for students. The online learning is flourishing like never before. Unfortunately, many schools including mine did not invest into online learning. No online classes have been organised by my school which has complicated the student’s education. The government of Rivers State (Ministry of Education) ensured that every student who could not afford the online classes set up by its school can now get it free, Thanks to the ministry of education. The classes set up had a positive impact on the educational sector, and now it has increased the availability of quality education around the state for those who hunger for it. Currently in Nigeria, only few schools offer online classes, both public and private international schools. All other schools in the country have  decided  to  skip the rest of the school year altogether. The lack of affordable and accessible quality education is a big problem for us.

 I have been enrolled into my final level of education in secondary school where I will write my exams and move on to higher institution to face realities. The course I choose is a course that I need to make out time to read, research, make notes and do some projects to prove that I am done with a particular level of my education. Of course, choosing courses is not an easy thing which has it own challenges. The challenge of submitting assignment before the due time, countless hours spent in projects. Also I look at these challenges from a different angle and perspective; I came to realize that these experiences are going to smoothen my transition from high school to university level.

 I must thank the government of Rivers State who lock me down as a result of being free from the virus; I see the lockdown as a great opportunity to mentally, emotionally, and intellectually grow. I discovered new activities which bonded I and my love ones together. I also thank God for the Covid-19 lockdown which gave me the chance to do things that I was not able to when I am in school. And here  we are; learning with a digital device, making researches, reading and other things. All I have to tell you is that everything that happens happen  for a purpose. Stay safe and yes to every opportunity.

 Marvelous,  is of  Community Boys Secondary School, Elelenwo, Port-Harcourt.