Pupils happy to be back in kindergarten

BINTULU: Pupils of Smart Reader Kids at Hock Lee Garden here came with smiling faces when they returned to their kindergarten yesterday morning.

Its principal Sophia Laka said they were calm and excited to meet their teachers and friends, and the morning session went smoothly.

While adhering strictly to the safety protocols outlined under the standard operating procedure (SOP) for kindergartens to operate, she said they were happy to welcome back the pupils in an environment of new normal after three months of E-learning and closure due to the movement control order to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.’

According to her in order to comply with the SOP, the pupils were split into two sessions - morning and afternoon.

“Each class accommodates half of the students in order to keep the one-metre social distancing.

“As a precaution, we provide face shield for the students in addition to the face mask provided by their parents,” she said.

With a staff of 12 and the pupils having learnt about the dangers of the coronavirus, she said they were able to keep the children under control.

“But we educate them from time to time so they will keep it as a practice after this,” she added.

Prior to the opening, Sophia said they had sanitised the premises and arranged the tables and chairs according to social distancing rules of at least one metre besides writing down the names of students on each table and chair.

She added that a health declaration form had been given to each staff and parent for them to record their travel history.

For the first week of reopening, she said they will conduct an orientation week to educate the pupils on the new normal.

“Our syllabus for the new school session will be reviewed and simplified according to the current situation that will involve more individual activities.

“However, we assure that our established programmes will not be compromised. There will be less fun experience due to the new norm,” she added.

Sophia said they understand that some parents are still concerned about the safety of their children while on the other hand, working parents have been begging for the kindergarten to reopen as they have no place to put their children when they go to work.

“If everyone is following the stringent guidelines, we can reduce the risk of infection among our community,” she said.

A student gets his body temperature taken. Every student is also required to wash his hands with sanitizer and wear face mask upon entering the kindergarten.

The students show their happy faces while posing with their teacher upon returning to their classroom.