It is unfortunate that the very university students who crave for getting education and finishing school in time, without a hitch, if possible, are conspicuously missing out in various university campuses across the country. The lecturers of public universities issued a strike notice that is expiring on 20th this month. Ideally, this development should have saddened university students, because should the strike be, it is they who will suffer.
In the real sense, it is the students who are celebrating the strike that is yet to happen. That begs the question- why would the very students, who should be eager to learn and graduate in time, be in a jolly mood when a strike notice is given? Are they tired of classes and learning? Have they lost hope with university education? Or are they just behaving immaturely and are clinging to the temporary goodies and good times that come with holidays?
They are behaving like small children who become happy whenever rains come. If you have lived in the village, especially in your formative years, you will understand what I mean. Back there, night-dark nimbus clouds that are a harbinger to a storm jerk joy and dance among the village kids. They gather in small groups and sing celebration songs to usher down the rains. If it happens that the rains pour in hailstones, their joy is even made better. They are so daring that they jump in out to collect handfuls of the hailstones, totally oblivious of the danger that they are exposing themselves to. All this time, their parents, if they happen to be around, are struggling with keeping them indoors and calm, while they are praying hard to God to avert the impending, and/or the already falling danger. Parents and adults know that storms are bad; that they destroy crops and cause havoc in various ways.
Most university students, sadly, are akin to the village children. They have taken to social media to celebrate the ‘much deserved’ holidays extension, oblivious or ignorant of the fact that it is they who stand to suffer. Thus, it is unsurprising to realize that most campuses are empty even as week two of the academic calendar ebbs away.
Unto you students, I write and say, heed the trumpet call and go back to your lecture rooms. For how long will you spend time celebrating the Christmas of the yesteryear, and the Day One of the year no longer new? The nation needs you. Carry your books and pens and run to your lecture rooms. It is you who are needed to fix this nation. Amka kumekucha!
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