Covid-19 preventing some students from returning to universities
The COVID-19 Pandemic and its repercussions within the schooling system has resulted in some students completely withdrawing or taking leaves of absence from their respective universities. Leaves of absence are granted to students based on, but not limited to, medical, academic, and work-related reasons for one semester or one academic year.
Jane Doe (not her real name) who was pursuing an Associate Degree in Natural Sciences at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE), ended her tenure at the end of her second year. She was supposed to return for a third year to redo some failed courses but instead decided to withdraw. She cited problems with online schooling as her reason. “When the whole COVID thing happened and I was at home and the online classes were stressing me out, I just decided that that’s that. Mi cah tek di stress,” she says. She also felt online schooling could not facilitate everything she needed to learn. “I was doing a science-based course. All of my courses were mostly practical stuff like chemistry and physics. You can’t do that online,” she added.
Another student, Francine Francis, who was a first-year history major at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, discontinued her studies after the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The pandemic saw students being sent home and classes halted until online school came into effect. “Really and truly, the online thing, it was new and everything that was going on, it was all uncertain,” Francis said, citing her reasons for leaving the UWI.
She also felt that due to the uncertainty surrounding how Covid-19 would affect learning at UWI, money used for her schooling might have been wasted. Since withdrawing, Francis has been doing farming and is the proprietor of a cosmetic business. In her eyes, “The money that I would be using to pay my tuition, I could invest in a business. That’s how I started looking at it.”
Dajénelle Mullings, a second-year meteorology student with a minor in physics at the UWI, Cave Hill, is currently on a leave of absence for this semester. What influenced her decision were the COVID protocols in Barbados, at the time, and the expenses that came with them. She was also wary about the uncertain state of COVID in the island which could result in her having to leave at any time.
A letter from the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal dated 15 July 2021 outlined that in accordance with the then travel protocols of Barbados, students travelling to Barbados would solely bear all expenses associated with their mandatory quarantine. Mullings estimates she would have to pay US$600-$800 in expenses which she could not afford. “So, I decided that it was better for my mental health if I sat out this semester because it was getting to be very stressful for me,” she said.
