A Class VIII student who returned to school after two long years on Thursday said she was “scared” for the first time in all this while about not being able to “answer a question in front of the entire class”.
She was happy, though, that friends who had been reduced to being boxes on the computer or smartphone screen had again become “human beings”.
Class VIII students returned to campus for the first time since March 2020, when all campuses were shut down following the outbreak of Covid-19.
“When I entered the school today, I realised there were things I had forgotten about. But it all came rushing back after I saw the building, the field,” said Abir Nag of Delhi Public School New Town.
But coming back to school did not mean they could play together or while away time in the canteen or on stairs.
“Wherever we went, we had to maintain two-hands distance from another person. And we had to keep our hands on our back as we walked. We are in Class VIII and will soon be promoted to Class IX but we had to behave like primary children,” said Himani Ghosh.
A student’s body temperature being measured at Hare School on Thursday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta
Classrooms in several private schools had separate desks for every student.
“The school experience is not like before. Even when we were sitting in the dining hall we were being watched and had to maintain distance,” said Aratrika Sinha of The Heritage School.
Aratrika’s parents were anxious about her going to school because she is yet to be vaccinated, a concern shared by many school heads.
While desks were far apart in private schools, in at least one government school the turnout of Class VIII students resulted in four students sharing a bench.
Debojyoti Santra, who studies in Class VIII in Sanskrit Collegiate School, said he wanted to be back on campus to make up for what he missed in the last two years.
“I met my friends with whom I studied and grew up from the primary section, a bonding I missed in online classes,” said Sourish Hait, also a student of Class VIII at the school.
The headmaster of Sanskrit Collegiate School, Debabrata Mukherjee, said students of this age group were guided by a hormonal change.
“This (Class VIII) is a phase when they seek to make a transition from a boy to a man. In this phase they crave for the company of friends, with whom they can share their feelings, much more than parents and other family members,” said Mukherjee.