LETTER | From my little lense: First day of school in the new norm
LETTER | I once interviewed a remarkable person on his perspectives of Covid-19, and how he would describe the pandemic in one word. He answered me: "Awakening".
That made me think a lot. One simple word, yet it has such a deep meaning to it. Covid-19 and the movement control order (MCO) has taught us many of life's precious lessons.
I remembered vividly the moment the government announced whether to extend MCO. Almost three months of MCO had passed, and everyone was so curious if MCO would be lifted or not.
My family and I quickly switched on to the news. The suspense was unbearable. When the prime minister announced we were moving into the recovery phase, everyone jumped out of our seats, excited and happy.
School was starting on July 22, replacing online classes and surprisingly, I was looking forward to it. I could meet all my friends after so long. Although my face fell when I learnt that we had to wear masks and keep a one-metre distance, I was still excited, nevertheless.
A difficult new norm, but I knew then that this would be the best for me and everyone. As the saying goes: "It's better to be safe than sorry."
If I could return to school, it also meant that I could finally go out to the malls and dine in at the restaurants as I read from somewhere that these activities are low to medium risk if we practise good adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP). I made a mental note to speak to my mom about it. Overjoyed, I ran upstairs, my face beaming with happiness.
The first day of school had finally arrived. I woke up at 6am, changed and quickly went down to have my breakfast. I was already beginning to feel exhausted because on MCO days, I would usually wake up at 10 am, just on time for my class, but now we must wake up four hours earlier.
I stifled a yawn and quickly ate my breakfast. I equipped myself with my face mask and hand sanitizer (with >70 percent alcohol!) to ensure I was protected from the virus.
The ride to school was equally a memorable one. I stared out of the window, and the view was spectacular as it was the first time that I was going out after so many months.
We finally arrived at the designated drop off place outside my school compound. Many teachers were helping to ease the traffic and aiding the students. I walked past a temperature monitor at the entrance, and amazingly, the TV monitor detected my temperature. Advanced technology indeed, I've never seen anything like this.
The school flow was redesignated to allow only one way to walk to our classes. We had to follow the arrows, and we practised social distance of one metre. Before I stepped into my class, we were told to sanitize our hands. Unlike what I thought it would be, there were 30 students instead of 15. Tables were positioned one metre apart from each other. I waved to my friends and quickly settled down.
Before our lesson started, our principal made the first announcement through the loudspeaker. She clarified to us about the new SOP and assured us that the teachers would try their best to make us comfortable in the new norm.
We were introduced to a new break – the breather break. Our principal explained how breather breaks work. Whenever anyone experiences any difficulty in breathing, we could take a short break outside the class with the mask opened. I found this very thoughtful and useful. Barely an hour with the mask, I was already starting to get uncomfortable.
Prior to returning to school, I imagined it would be very eventful, but the day passed on smoothly. Classes went on as usual, except we were not allowed group activities. I gave up talking after a while as my voice seemed muffled behind the mask. My friends couldn't really hear what I was saying.
For lunch, to reduce the movement of students, we were not allowed to go to the canteen. We stayed in the class, and our teachers served us with pre-packaged food.
Our usual plates and cutleries were replaced with recycled plastic containers and plastic cutleries. Although this is good for Covid preventive measures, sadly, we accumulate a lot of plastic containers which is bad for the environment.
Soon it was time to go home. Students were assigned to wait at specific places to ease the congestion. I felt so exhausted after such a long day in school. Upon returning from school, I had another set of rules to follow at home. I had to leave my bags outside to minimize risk to my family members. I followed dutifully as this new routine would ensure we keep safe.
This experience would stay in my mind for a very long time. Awakening is a very good word to describe the Covid-19 experience.
For me, my one word for Covid-19 would be "reflection". It is the time for us to reflect the good and the bad and how important it is for us to go through this together. I hope we will get past this soon.
Note from Claris' mom: Claris would like to thank Uncle Amar-Singh HSS for the interview opportunity and inspiring her to keep writing.
Her class teacher eventually presented each student with a stainless fork and spoon to replace the plastic cutleries. Claris thought that it was a very brilliant idea to reduce plastic wastage.
CLARIS LEE is a Primary 4 student.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
