I always heard that university life is full of challenges at every step but joining university during an ongoing pandemic was a whole new struggle when I got admission at Comsats. I always imagined my fresh start at university to be full of interactions with the newbies like me but, alas, it began during the worse times.
Who can better narrate the experience of university life during corona than a student like me who started her first semester with the online classes? My imagination bubble of an on-campus learning experience was burst by online learning through teams. The distorted voice, ranting of children in the background, unstable internet connection, and improper communication were all part of attending an online class. Every student has suffered from so many problems during the online teaching system. Two-way communication is not possible during an online lecture and the communication gap between the students and teachers further increases. The technical subjects taught online can never be understood properly no matter how much effort a teacher puts into an online class. The learning experience during the pandemic affected a lot and proper education couldn’t be acquired through the online medium. Everyone was compelled to learn this way as corona didn’t allow the normal classes to happen for anyone.
The on-campus classes are very essential for a student to gain confidence by giving presentations, getting involved in different activities, joining societies, and interacting face to face with the students and teachers. None of them could be done by a student who became part of the university during a pandemic due to which the chance to boost confidence was lost.
For a student who started her university life in a pandemic, receiving a welcome party became an unfulfilled dream. Lucky are the ones who began their academic life in university before this pandemic and got a chance to celebrate with the new fellows at such events.
All the plans of interacting with the new class fellows were in vain when all I could see were the roll numbers of the students of my class during the online class meetings. I cannot even term this semester as the start of my university life. It was simply the beginning of university life at home with virtual interaction.
Universities have finally reopened at the order of education minister for the proper conduction of on-campus classes but the university life for a student today is entirely different from the university life before the arrival of this pandemic.
Masks have become a new normal. No one ever thought that wearing surgical masks will be ever normalized this much for everyone everywhere. The fear of getting affected by this virus stays in the mind of every student which hinders their interaction with others. Social distancing needs to be practiced by everyone along with following the other SOPs. Today a student must deal with double stress. One from the pressure of studies and the other of catching the lethal virus.
Traveling in buses and vans to reach university is a big headache for every student as it creates a lot of fuss. Today there is an added stress in this struggle as no social distancing can be practiced there and everyone is forced to travel in congested vans and buses having many passengers. As it is the sole source to reach university for many students, so they are forced to travel this way being much more vulnerable to the attack of the coronavirus.
Life for every student has become different and challenging today. The vaccines have become available in the markets now but there are a lot of associated fears and risks to the administering of the vaccine. Till now many people are reluctant to get it.
I hope that we get rid of this virus soon so that everyone can enjoy the colors of their university life to the fullest as they did before the arrival of this virus. I assume that still there is a long struggle remaining for us and it will require time for this virus to vanish from our lives but we can always pray to Allah as he has all the power to make miracles happen.
