Read with Sara: Essay- When my big school comes home

I remember waking up to a very tense morning. Everyone in my house was  sitting in front of the T.V. with their eyes glued to the screen. They were also  discussing about a worldwide pandemic and some contagious illness being  caused by a deadly virus, the COVID-19.

Little did I know that this virus was going to change all our lives intensely. Soon, all the schools were closed and so were the shops. The house help stopped coming and we were not allowed to step out of our homes. Even if we  did, wearing a mask and gloves became compulsory. Hand washing frequently was a must for all of us. Then I learnt this new word called ‘Social Distancing.’ Sure it sounded very sophisticated to me, though maintaining it wasn’t too  much fun.

And then I was introduced to the most peculiar of all ideas- the e-school. “What was it anyway?” I thought to myself. Online schools, as I know now, are  virtual schools that come to you instead of you going to them. Honestly, it was still quite a hazy concept to me. After all, how can a school so big as mine come to you? I was also told that in online schooling no one goes anywhere.  The teachers teach from their homes and the students study from theirs. Your  text books and note books are delivered at your door step by a vendor  and all you ever need in this process is a mere laptop, tablet or an advanced phone. A few simple apps with a lot of complicated algorithms do the rest.

My mind was spinning by now. Clearly it was a lot to process and sounded  anything but fun. No seeing friends? No jumping on the trampoline? No  running around in the fresh green grass on the playground? And what about  chit-chatting with my best friends during break-time?

With many such  questions in mind and very little hope in my heart I sat down  for my first online  class only to find that it wasn’t so bad after all! I could see  my friends on the laptop screen, hear their voices and even wave at them. It  was just like being in a real classroom with my teachers and friends, except  that we had to be more disciplined and wait for our turn patiently before we  spoke.

“Wait. Did that also mean no written exams and only oral ones??” I was  thinking to myself. Yes, such hopeful thoughts cross my mind every now and  then but sure enough they are negated ruthlessly most of the times. As what  followed next was quite the opposite. We students were being “assignment- logged” with worksheets. Online exams were also on their way. I soon started fretting about it all. “How on earth am I suppose to keep up?!” — a frantic  thought kept occurring to me. But soon I realized that it was for our own good  and keeping pace did not seem like a big problem anymore. After all, one  needs to be self-driven in virtual schooling.

Although my experience with an online school is no match to the real one, it is  important that I learn to adjust my life as a student around this new concept. I  have come to realize, this could be the new normal for a very long time.