Delaying the start of term: third time lucky?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the government has made it plain and clear that education is a priority. That students shouldn’t be side-lined, that universities need to align in coming up with a plan.

Yet, all that the last few months have shown is that the government are a little bit inconsistent in prioritising students. And not that they necessarily should be prioritised when we consider how the lives of essential workers and older people have been affected. But maybe blaming students for a second wave that was clearly initiated by pushing people to save the economy by frequenting restaurants – where the virus can spread – wasn’t the way forward.

“It wasn’t necessarily the best idea to trust students to not have house parties”

And neither were the staggered returns and Christmas travel week ideas. The first time, university students were told to simply go straight to university in October, isolate if need be, wash hands, and try to work online as much as possible – but contact hours would still be in-person, and libraries would still be open. And despite the precautions, it wasn’t necessarily the best idea to trust students to not have house parties and restrict going to bars with just their households.

And then, the government spread the rumour that we wouldn’t be going home over Christmas but that was never going to work. All that would’ve happened is that those who could afford to have their parents drive to collect them would have been able to go home, whereas those relying on trains might not have had that option. And so, the government thought they’d just test us and send us home in time for a two-week isolation period, and that kind of worked and kind of gave hope that everything might be under control.

And now we’re back to square one, in not really knowing when (or whether) we’re going back in a few weeks. It’s like March all over again – except, this time, most students are convinced they’ll be returning whether or not their university advises it. I mean, they can’t really stop us – can they?

Testing us before we went home was a smart idea. Painful and uncomfortable, but definitely worth it. But testing us on return seems a bit confusing. In my uni house, four of us are living together from houses and families all over the country. And if we’re adamant on keeping our grandparents safe at home, I’m sure we’ll be safe enough around each other, won’t we? Not that I’m against testing. If anything, I’m grateful it’s been made available. I think I’d just be a little more grateful if there was some clarity on what’s happening.

“All I know is that whatever is decided, students are the last to know”

When we arrived at university at the start of term in October, there was mass Covid isolation for the first month. One by one, houses of friends took their turn in isolation. And it lasted way longer than I thought. And now, that’s just going to happen all over again – but, by having us staggered, the four weeks of houses dropping like flies will probably extended to eight weeks. So instead of us all just getting the virus in one go and isolating at the same time, we’ll all just be doing that throughout the term; to me, it’s not quite making sense. All I know is that whatever is decided, students are the last to know and I’m not convinced any of these measures are making a difference anyway.

Meghna Amin

Image courtesy of Victoria Heath via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.