Lockdown due to coronavirus is under control across Africa. However, officials cannot find strong medicine or curbs to vanish the virus entirely, and vaccinations alone won’t cut it. Now, Africans are pursuing a route to live with the virus.
A black mask covered almost the whole face of Bridget Akankwasa, according to one of a learner at St. Maria Parents Primary School in Kiwatule, a township in Uganda state, Kampala.
She said, “It doesn’t feel good to meet with your friends after almost two years of school shut down and cant able hug them. She further said I missed being able to hug my friends on her first day back.”
She is one of 15 million children back to classes this week as Uganda became the last country in the whole of Africa to reopen schools after closing them in March 2020.
According to the St. Maria’s owner, Joseph Mukasa said: “I was surprised to see the lack of students in classes when we had to close down the schools there were about 300 students present here, and now not even 20 students are present in schools.”
Furthermore, Mukasa hopes that attendance will pick up soon in the next few days. Otherwise, she has to think about any other alternative business to run his home.
According to Education Experts of Africa, a large proportion of children in Africa will not be going to continue their education because many of them started doing their jobs to help their families financially due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The girls of Africa will also not continue their studies because, after the 2020 phase, their families forced them into marriage. Life after the shutdowns now seems to be starting again in Africa as the pandemic continues.
As per John Nkengasong, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director, severe shutdowns are no longer the best way to protect themselves from the virus. He also praised South Africa for its response towards the new variant Omicron.
