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Students Facing Challenges With Internet Affordability – KIUPSA President Funda

Students Facing Challenges With Internet Affordability – KIUPSA President Funda

KIU, Western Campus – Kampala International University Pharmaceutical Students Association (KIUPSA) President Micheal Daniel Funda has said that the majority of students cannot afford internet data required for accessing online learning materials.

Funda, a third-year student of Bachelor of Pharmacy at Western Campus, told this website in an online interview that he holds discussions with his colleagues every day but the high cost of data impedes the participation of many.

“Sometimes we hold discussions with some of my class colleagues from 2 pm to 4 pm in the afternoons and 8 pm to 9 pm in the evenings but the limitations of data and network have posed a serious challenge,” Funda says.

“We approximately use 1 GB of data each, every day, to participate in these discussions, which is not affordable for everyone,” he adds.

He says that being semi-finalists, his colleagues and himself are going through a critical and demanding period and need not waste any time or opportunity for studying.

Funda reveals that he recently contracted COVID-19 but thanks to the immunity-boosting measures like good nutrition, which he had taken earlier, he is on a steady recovery path and has not presented with any serious symptoms.

Because he is currently in isolation, Funda has quite a fixed schedule. After waking up, he does some exercise in his isolation area and then starts reading from around 10 am.

He then proceeds to his respective media platforms to engage with his peers and social circle, as well as respond to queries relating to KIUPSA work. After this he organizes and participates in the group discussions.

“I basically dedicated this lockdown to my academic welfare,” he says.

His main regret is that the lockdown has extended his course duration because, without it, he would be now doing his internship. 
He advises fellow students who have opportunities for training and practice to take them up because any additional input to their academic knowledge is an added advantage.

Funda thinks that the government ought to engage more Ugandans in coming up with solutions of coping with the lockdown because the occurrence of more COVID-19 waves in the not-so-far future is a real possibility.

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