INSURE YOUR VALUABLES COMRADES

A new insurance package targeting university students is in the works as a Kenyan insurance company prepares to launch a new product that will insure comrades’ laptops against theft and physical damage. Given the alarming cases of laptop theft in campus, this is certainly music to many a comrades’ ears.
While we’re at it, why not then introduce even more student friendly packages that will specifically cater to the needs of students. To begin with, how about a product for mwakenya’s? No seriously! After all the painstaking efforts that go into condensing a semester’s worth of lectures and notes into the pocket friendly lifesaver, isn’t it painful when you accidentally misplace it? Even worse if someone lifts it from you. With the surging demand for the commodity in the student market, it should certainly be among the first things you would want to secure as a comrade.
Second up should be condom dispensers. This would not only be of benefit to the students but the administration as well. Among the greatest mysteries of the world is why condom dispensers in campus are always battered and mangled. The most logical explanation would be that they are frequently recepients of extreme physical abuse from frustrated comrades who fuel their testosterone towards the empty dispensers upon discovery that they will not be getting any.
Coils. If those gadgets could speak they would tell harrowing tales of their experiences at the hands of comrades. Especially so for the male students. Tales of naked wires plugged into naked sockets because two hundred bob to buy a plug and a socket just isn’t economically feasible. Of githeri boiled all Sunday afternoon because electricity is free courtesy of JAB (isn’t it?). Of shot circuits and temperamental circuit blockers that have resulted in floor by floor cooking schedules in the halls of residence. Oh, they would tell stories!
An insurance package for sugar daddies would also be worth considering wouldn’t it ladies? Because how would a female comrade survive for an entire fifteen weeks with a broke boyfriend? What with all the make-up and shoes to buy. And the girlfriends to impress. And clothes? And going out? Not going to happen!
But most importantly, the most importantly, there is that one possession that each and every comrade holds most dear. Their HELB loan. Therein lies the secret to success. Whichever insurer that offers to ensure that HELB coffers never run dry will have discovered the secret to eternal happiness. So fellows, please devise a package for this will you?
Or maybe we can all just live with our misfortunes like everyone else.

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Let’s kick this one off with an anecdote, shall we. A group of comrades were hanging out in their hostel one evening when of them suggested they take the fun times a notch higher and hit the club. Seeing as it was rather late into the night, one student dismissed the idea observing that it was too late and besides, he argued, they had had enough partying for one night. Seeing that he wasn’t going to have his way this time, the proposer threw a tantrum making it clear to the rest of the group that as a Medicine student, he had veto over any decisions that needed to be made and the rest would be well advised to heed his will. Everything went downhill thereafter.
While the implication that some students/graduates are more important than others seems rather insensitive, a recent report by the Center on Education and the Workforce in the US published by Forbes Magazine suggests that indeed, some courses -and by extension graduates- are more valuable and important than others.
According to the study, one’s choice of course substantially affects their employment prospects and earnings. As the worst affected courses, Anthropology and Archeology students in the US face a 10.5% unemployment rate with an average annual salary of only $28,000 compared to $58,000 for Mechanical Engineers. As a matter of fact, the least in-demand and lowest earning courses in the US fall under arts and humanities and include film, fine arts, and philosophy & religious studies.
The study further points out that “most young people in college [and university] take whatever interests them, without thinking what it can really do for them.”
In Kenya, when it comes to choosing degree courses, many people go for the most popular courses simply because it is widely believed that chances of getting employed after pursuing a popular course are high. Commerce, Law and Bachelor of Arts courses have proven to be widely popular with high school levers signing up for the degrees in droves.
The dynamics of the Kenyan job market paint a totally different picture from the prevailing scenario in the US but the truth is, most university entrants mostly only consider accessibility of the courses as opposed to the demand for such skills in the job market. Some degree of blame must also fall on the Joint Admission’s Board which has often been accused of admitting students for degree courses they hadn’t even applied for on account of limited availability of certain courses.