Waking up every day to the same schedule is one of the most tiring things in the universe.
Waking up on Monday knowing it will be like every other Monday since you resumed school is the most boring thing. It can only be compared to our lives in 2020.
We used to wake up to do nothing, then retire in the evening to bed ‘tired’ of having rested the whole day. This is exactly what is happening in schools. There are no extra-curricular activities.
Long gone are the days when we would study during the week knowing that at the weekend, we’d be out there socialising with students from other schools. Gone are the days one would join a sport, talented or not, to earn a bus trip to a tournament or a friendly match in the neighbouring school. This year will go down as the most talent-wasting year in the history of the 8-4-4 system.
Now that gatherings are not permitted, of course with the exception of politics and politicians who are still holding mammoth rallies, students are most likely not to have any talent-exploiting forum. The big ideas we have are unlikely to reach the world through science fairs.
The football skills that some had learnt during the lockdown period will never get play and audience. The drama skills that some gained from watching will never get to the eyes of the adjudicators and exuberant crowds in auditoriums.
Personally, I had collected a load of quotes to be used in debates and public speaking contests but I just have to say them to my classmates or recite one or two in front of the mirror. The ministries concerned should step up and work a way to have school extracurricular activities back.
From the look of things, the pandemic is most likely to hang around and we’ll have to adapt and live with it like we did with HIV and Aids.
Resumption of these activities with Covid-19 protocols put in place and adhered to will go a long way in impacting the lives of many learners.
Who knows? Maybe Argentinian playmaker Lionel Messi’s replacement at FC Barcelona is somewhere in a Kenyan school but has no opportunity to showcase his prowess.
The next Lupita Nyong’o might be somewhere in a school not having an avenue to prove that they can take up the mantle.
With normalcy, or a new normal kicking in, extra-curricular activities for schools should be a priority. Let’s make talents and abilities a path that one may follow to success.
Education is not the only key to success, talents and abilities can pry the padlock open too. BY DAILY NATION