In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, BridgeWide Africa, a social enterprise focused on research, training and advocacy in Ghana, provided the platform for student leaders across the African continent to discuss the impact of the pandemic on higher education in Africa.

During the discussion, the leaders pooled from the Western, Eastern and Southern regions of Africa called for a hold on re-opening schools from basic to the tertiary level.

They want authorities to hold on until an opportune time when there is a minimal record of case counts per country.

They have, however, advised that in the case where schools must reopen, it should be based on a phased system where students are allowed to resume in batches based on year of entry and completion.

BridgeWide Africa also wants the reopening to be based on the need for use of school facilities especially for students doing their research.

Juma Kirubai from Riara University in Kenya advised governments “must not be in a hurry to reopen schools.”

Adding to his calls, the president of the National Union of Ghana Students, Isaac Jay Hyde noted “looking at the situation that we have, it’s our proposal that schools should reopen in batches because our schools are congested.

"We cannot guarantee that social distancing will be adhered to in our schools so left to us, one proposal will be for a phased system reopening.

"So, the final year students should go to school, write the exams, they leave, second year and third year will also go we have a three-month-long vacation.”

On his part, the president of the Students' Union at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, Akeju Olusegun supported reopening of schools in batches but advised against opening up halls of residences to accommodate students.

He commented on the challenge of having to test every student before resuming school emphasising that the period required for tests to be conducted makes it difficult to admit many students to their halls of residences or hostels.

Aside their views on reopening of schools, the student leaders discussed pertinent implications of the pandemic on higher institutions of education post-Covid-19.

They agreed that although higher institutions of education in Africa seemed to have braced up for eLearning, on-campus life and activities are fundamental to the university experience.

BridgeWide Africa also called on school administrators and authorities to consider running online courses alongside the traditional face-to-face learning.

The group requested policies from governments to harness the online education which seems to be the way forward for tertiary institutions to cope in terms of capacity, competition and sustainability post-Covid-19.

The President of the Liberian Students' Union, Mohammed Kamara and the Leader of Nigerian Students at the Kwazulu Natal University in South Africa, Eric Akintemi, agreed on the need for governments across Africa to approve the option of eLearning through interventions.

This includes funding and investment in technology and technological gadgets for students to facilitate online learning and collaboration with telecommunication companies for internet connectivity.

All the student leaders agreed that students have individual roles to play in adhering to the protocols when schools reopen to ensure the prevention and control practices.

An Executive Director of BridgeWide Africa, Abigail Korkor Sackitey, who also doubled as the moderator for the students’ panel discussion, noted that since schools create an avenue for a large number of people to gather and interact in a confined setting, requesting student representatives to declare their stands and advise governments in Africa was expedient.

BridgeWide Africa says it will come out with a journal publication of the findings from the two discussions to serve as reference material for higher education institutions and governments across Africa.