Students can’t wait to get back to school for real

PETALING JAYA: Students are raring to go back to school, and most prefer either the dual or rotational model.

Nur Alia Irdina Rosdi, 16, from SM Sains Tuanku Aishah Rohani in Seremban, Negri Sembilan, hopes her school will implement the dual session model to prevent overcrowding.

“Fewer students means less intense social distancing supervision, which is a bonus for the teachers.

“This probably means extra teaching hours for our teachers, but the school can adjust the timetable so that two sessions are possible without teachers having to work overtime,” she said.

She has been looking forward to the reopening of school and is happy that a date has finally been announced.

“I am sure I am not the only one getting frustrated over the lack of guidance and proper study materials in the past four months.

“And the motivation is better when you are in class with your peers, striving together to achieve good results,” Nur Alia added.

Diksha Suri, 16, from Trinity Learning Centre in Petaling Jaya, is overjoyed as not being able to socialise with her schoolmates and friends has taken a toll on her.

“Staying at home 24/7 can really suck the life out of you. Learning via the Internet is now the new normal but it sure is difficult, especially for demanding subjects such as Additional Mathematics,” she said.

She prefers that schools reopen on a rotational basis.

“Classes for more demanding subjects can be held in school, but easier subjects like English can continue to be taught online,” she said.

Another option, she said, would be for students to take turns attending classes.

Valerie Kuek Weng Yi, 15, prefers the rotational model as SMK Seri Kembangan, Selangor, is overpopulated with Form Five students taking up as many as 32 classes.

“Also, our teachers are using a classroom as their staffroom and even before this, there were ‘floating classes’ that did not have their own physical classrooms,” she said.

Prefect Anishaa Sandhya Suresh Kumar, 15, from SMK Bukit Mewah in Seremban, is excited to return to school but is also concerned about getting students to follow the standard operating procedure.

“There will always be students who break rules or play the fool, and that can be worrying under these circumstances,” she said.

Anishaa misses class discussions, which are not always possible with e-learning. She prefers the dual sessions as there will be more continuity in lessons and less distraction.

Lydia Rekha Manohar, 16, from SMK Taman Daya 1 in Pasir Gudang, Johor, has been struggling to cope with online classes due to the lack of proper Internet connection.

E-classes, she said, were also not as effective as most students were not even focusing on the teacher.

“It is hard to keep track of all the students. In my school, there are almost 130 students in the same Google Meet for some subjects,” Lydia said.

Dennis Lai Yong Jia, 14, from SMK Seri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, prefers the rotational model because “I don’t like the idea of attending school in the afternoon”.

“I cannot wait to resume face-toface learning because although my teachers work hard to teach us online, learning from home is distracting,” said Dennis.

Shahswin Baskaran, 16, from SMK Bandar Baru Putra, Perak, said nothing beats going to school.

“Being around my friends again makes learning more fun because we can joke around,” he said, adding that dual sessions would be better as having everyone come in at once would increase the chances of spreading the virus.