24 April 2020
The outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 has made several nations to close down their operations. While this closure will affect the economy of the countries largely, it has already affected the education of students across the world since the start of the outbreak.
While responding to the outbreak by closing the campuses, Texila American University, Zambia, has acted proactively and switched the learning mode to online. Thus, we have facilitated our student community to stay on track of their learning process.
During the online lectures, faculty members are using virtual lab software like Microsoft’s 3D Anatomy for Medical Students, Acland’s Anatomy, Labstir, to demonstrate experiments.
Following are some of the measures we have taken to tackle this global pandemic and at the same time facilitate our students with their academics:
Apart from the above, we have written to the Ministry of General Education, Ministry of Higher education and the Association of African Universities offering our Learning Management System service free of cost to be implemented in any institution in Africa.
As Texila American University, we will not relent in our endeavor to invest in the education sector in Zambia and beyond. It is for this reason that we will utilize this time to further our plans for future expansion of our campus because we are still strong in our resolve to transform Africa’s health industry for the better. We believe that Africa has what it takes to fix the gap in health care delivery, and we count ourselves fortunate to be a catalyst to that reality.
The current Covid-19 global crisis has affected all of us. Nobody is certain about the impact it will cause on the world and Zambia as a nation. One thing for sure is that the economic impact has been felt as seen by the dwindling local exchange rate to foreign currencies. Some businesses have shut down and others have downsized in order to survive the harsh realities we are faced with as a nation and as the world at large.
In response to MOH’s directives, Texila American University has taken steps to practice recommended hygiene methods amongst its employees. Awareness Talks have been conducted and Posters placed strategically. And employees are encouraged to maintain social distance. We sincerely hope that our staff and students will see the broader perspective and understand that these measures come from a very difficult position that we find ourselves in. Together, we can fight the Corona Virus by playing our part, no matter how small.
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy.
God Bless
Dr Vijayakumar Rajarathinam
Deputy Vice Chancellor
