PETALING JAYA: Students are finally making their way back to school with a mixture of joy and anxiety.
While they are happy to be able to meet their friends again, they are also worried about their preparations for various examinations, now delayed to early next year.
Muhammad Hafidzuddin Saiful Bahri, 17, a Form Five student at SMK Seri Permaisuri here, said he is relieved as he does not have to continue taking online classes.
“It’s not easy following the lessons online. There are many distractions at home too,” the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidate said. He confessed that he would sometimes end up playing games instead of focusing on his studies.
“So I end up not doing much revision work.”
After a three-month break, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hafidzuddin is happy that he is able to reunite with his schoolmates.
Schools were ordered to close in March when the pandemic began to spread across the country, raising concerns that those sitting for the SPM and other examinations at the end of this year would not be fully prepared.
The Education Ministry recently announced that the examinations will be held early next year, to give students sufficient time to catch up with their studies.
Even so, Hafidzuddin is worried that there may not be enough time. The SPM examinations are now scheduled for Jan 6 to Feb 9.
Another SPM candidate, Muhammad Fitri Ahmad Fadli, shared his schoolmate Hafidzuddin’s sentiments.
However, he is confident that with his teachers’ help and the support of his friends, he will be ready for the examination.
Fitri feels that the strict standard operating procedures would be helpful rather than cumbersome.
For instance, social distancing now restricts 12 students to each class and only three persons are allowed in the toilet at any one time.
He said students will learn to take things more seriously.
The SPM examinations was earlier scheduled for Nov 16 to Dec 7, but has been postponed to give students ample time to prepare for it, the Education Ministry explained when announcing the delay.
The Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia examination, originally set for November, will now be held next year.
The Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia examination which was to be held in October, will now be held from Feb 17 to 25, while the Sijil Vokasional Malaysia examination originally scheduled for May and October (two sessions) will be held in August this year and May next year.
