Excited to be back after a long gap: Students
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Mar 2: After remaining shut for over 31 months due to COVID-19 pandemic, the schools across Kashmir today reopened with strict adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) while jubilant children were seen thronging their respective schools with all the excitement.
The students who were already preparing for their return to their schools for the last several days were seen heading towards their institutes at 10 in the morning. While most of the students made it through the school transport service, many others had their parents drop them off on the occasion.
On the occasion of the return of students after a gap of nearly 400 days, private as well as the Government schools were decorated to make the students feel at ease even as several schools had asked the students not to come wearing uniforms while as most of the schools are going make the first week “all fun”.
The schools in this regard had asked the students of class 4 to 9 to attend the school on the day, while as, from tomorrow, the process of returning to the schools for students of other classes is going to be carried out as per roster to ensure staggered, phased reopening of the schools across Kashmir.
The students on the occasion said that returning to school is a special occasion for them and that they are eager to meet their friends after a long gap. “I feel happy and it feels great to be back. It is like, an eternity has passed since I last saw the school,” Ayat, one of the students from Green Valley School said.
On the occasion, schools had put in place all the necessary arrangements for ensuring social distancing, thermal scanning of students, which is in accordance with the COVID SOPs.
Earlier, the parents, as well as child psychologists, had impressed on the schools go easy on the children for a week so that they could acclimatize with changing environment and after that going ahead with tests and assignments.
The Government had earlier ordered the reopening of the schools in a staggered manner as the COVID situation witnessed an improvement across J&K, while the heads of the institutions were directed to ensure taking care of the mental wellbeing of the students attending the schools after a long gap.
Another student, Huda Mohsin, while expressing her excitement of finally being able to return to her school, underlined that online education cannot be a substitute. “It feels something new as we are returning to school after 3 years, and it feels amazing; I am especially eager to meet my friends,” she said.
As the day came to an end at 3 pm for the children who were back to school after a long gap, even though they seemed tired, the excitement of Day-1 was visible on their faces.
Some of the students even said that they couldn’t recognize some of their friends because those, who were 7 when the schools were shut, had turned 10.
Also, on the morning assembly prayers that were held across schools with adherence to CAB, the teachers mostly tried to counsel the students and advised them to make a new beginning while a 2-minute silence was also observed for those who their lives in the pandemic.
Apart from the students, the teachers were also excited on the day and said that they were tired of online education as they could not give individual attention to the children.
“It is same for all the students that they do not get the required attention and with this, they remained stressed and that also affected their performance; but I am happy now that they are back to their schools,” one of the teachers said.
Another private school teacher who identified herself as Salbia Khursheed echoed similar thoughts and said that she now prays for everything to remain on track. “We are happy and we are looking forward that the same will continue in days to come and at the same time, I pray COVID does not end up shutting the schools down,” she said.
She also said that online education has been terrible because there were several related issues that the students, as well as teachers, faced. “The students did not get the attention they deserved during the online education,” she added.
The parents at the same time also expressed their joy and said that they feel as if they are dropping their children off at schools for the first time. “It is not a new and different feeling for students and teachers only, as a parent, I feel overwhelmed,” Latief Ahmad, one of the parents said.
It is to be noted here that the degree colleges across Kashmir have already started to function from February 15 while Kashmir University is all set to return to offline classes from March 3.
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