“Throughout this whole experience, I have learned to “Never say never.” You never know what is happening tomorrow, so be open to new experiences, and embrace every change that comes your way.”

-Lucy, the School President of Daraja Academy

It is no secret that throughout the world, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the lives of schoolchildren and altered the landscape of education. This year, the memories associated with in-person learning and interactions—running to greet friends in the mornings, being able to engage in hands-on activities from science laboratories to sports, and partaking in the daily commute—vanished from the tips of students’ fingertips as learning transitioned to remote platforms. Children globally were and are still being forced to grapple with novel questions: For those in areas with cold winters, will snow days ever be a thing again, being able to experience the pure bliss that comes from waking up to a world covered with sparkling white dust? Or will teachers now just send out Zoom links to be used for the day? For those who were unable to continue taking classes during the pandemic, will they be able to graduate on time? Or will they now experience a delay in their anticipated graduation day? Will we ever experience large school assemblies again or have fun playing competitive games at school-wide field days? Clearly, this is a time of uncertainty for everyone, an uncertainty that knows no borders.

While many high school students in the United States had to cope with a transition to remote learning in March 2020, for the most part, they still had the opportunity to continue engaging in learning (albeit remotely) and knew generally that their schools would continue to follow the traditional timeline of ending at the start of the summer and commencing the new school year at the end of summer. Even more so that in the United States, secondary school students in other parts of the world such as in Kenya had to endure dramatic changes to their daily lives in the midst of a sea of vast uncertainty. When COVID-19 spread throughout Kenya, many provincial and district-level schools were forced to close their doors indefinitely, with no option for children to continue their studies via digital platforms. Secondary school students who were used to interacting and learning from their peers and teachers everyday were now forced to stay at home, unable to access vital educational materials such as textbooks and the Internet now that they weren’t going to the classroom. Furthermore, until recently, the Kenyan government had made the unpopular decision to cancel the entire academic year, meaning that teachers and students would have to wait until January 2021 to retain some sense of normalcy. With little advance notice, the government decided to allow students in grade 4, grade 8, and the last year of secondary school (Form 4),  to return starting October 12th, causing students to have to adjust to yet another rapid change. 

According to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, school closures caused by the pandemic further exacerbated previously existing inequalities between students attending well-resourced national schools and those attending local schools. Even for the students who were fortunate enough to go to a secondary school that forged on with remote education during the pandemic, students faced a multitude of challenges such as internet connectivity issues, the deterioration of mental health, distractions due to being in close quarters at home, and inexperience navigating the use of electronic devices. In order to learn more about Kenyan students’ live experiences with virtual learning, I had the humbling opportunity to interview secondary school students from one of our partner schools, Daraja Academy. Daraja Academy is a non-profit boarding school in Nanyuki, Kenya that educates and empowers girls from all over the nation coming from backgrounds of material poverty.

During the pandemic, students at Daraja Academy were sent back home, dispersed all throughout the nation, miles away from their classmates. With the help of School for a Village, Daraja Academy was able to provide their students with mobile devices so that students could forge ahead with their studies via online platforms such as Choosito! and Edmodo. When I interviewed the girls, I noticed a thread of commonalities among the struggles they experienced when transitioning to virtual learning. When talking to the School President of Daraja Academy and a fourth-year (Form 4) student, Lucy, she said, “At first, I didn’t have a mobile phone or data, so I couldn’t access class.” Even once students received their mobile phones from Daraja, this was many of their first times navigating a mobile device. Jackline, a first-year (Form 1) student from Nanyuki, described, “I had never used a smartphone before. The first time I borrowed one from my guardian, I had no idea how to interact with it.” For many of these girls, they were experiencing changes and unfamiliarities even beyond the scope of those faced by many students in the United States, encountering new technologies that they previously had not been exposed to. In addition, other challenges associated with remote learning included the distractions concomitant to being at home, feelings of loneliness from not being able to see friends on a daily basis, and anxiety due to having to postpone taking the National Examination. 

And yet, (quite incredibly) in spite of these setbacks, the girls at Daraja Academy are able to maintain positive mindsets, show fortitude in the face of adversity, and embrace the unexpected life changes with open minds. In the interview, the girls did not linger on all the ways that COVID negatively disrupted their lives, but instead viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to engage in self-growth. For instance, Farhia, a student from Nairobi, said, “Since I have not been able to meet my friends for 6 months, COVID has given me a lot of time for self-reflection and to appreciate myself more as a human being.” For Farhia, one of the positives that came out of this whole experience was that she was able to realize that she was stronger and more resilient than she thought she could be. In addition, Jackline mentioned, “I have learned to be prepared to experience new things in life because I never thought something like this would happen to the world.” For her, living through COVID has made her more open-minded, and instead of remaining stuck on everything she has missed out on such as extracurricular activities and seeing her Daraja sisters on a daily basis, she focuses more on all the skills she has learned because of the transition to remote learning.

Moreover, the Daraja girls all expressed how grateful they were for being able to continue learning via remote education. Lucy described the transition to remote learning as “an amazing experience” thanks to the help of school teachers who were dedicated towards helping students cope with technological difficulties, and Farhia detailed how online school made her feel less alone, “helping ease the pain of missing her sisters and teachers from school because [they] were still able to interact and share ideas.” She also said, “Online classes have helped us [students] bond. When we go to school and can actually physically meet again, we will appreciate each other even more and know that anything is possible in this world, so we won’t take each other for granted.” Brenda, a third-year (Form 3) student, mentioned how grateful she was that Daraja Academy had the means and the mobile devices to allow their students to continue with remote learning, an opportunity that unfortunately many Kenyan schools were unable to provide to their students. She stated that while her friends from back home were all out playing and not studying, “online classes helped [her] stay away from peer pressure and avoid distractions.” 

What I learned from meeting these girls and future leaders is that by reframing challenges as opportunities to show strength and embracing uncertainty with an open mind, we can better cope with life circumstances out of control. By focusing on how online learning has positively impacted them such as enabling them to become more technologically-skilled and feel more comfortable using online platforms such as Edmodo and Choosito!, students were able to make the most out of their remote learning experience and motivate themselves to continue learning new information in a variety of subjects. Now, as they excitedly prepare to go back to school and reunite with their classmates once more, the girls from Daraja Academy will walk through the doors ready to take on new and unexpected challenges that come their way. I too hope to incorporate their growth mindsets, optimism, and gratitude into my own daily, socially-distanced life.