When my mum drove me over to school like any other Monday morning, we knew that something was off. Students were pacing around the sidewalk calling someone and the cars were making a turn without dropping off anyone.
When our car finally reached the front of the gates, we saw teachers standing on the road calling out ‘School’s closed’ over and over again. Apparently, my school was to be closed for quite a while. As the novel Corona-virus was spreading fast, the Korean government, in hand with the Office of Education, thought the risks of keeping schools open was too high.
The notice had already gone out to public schools in the mainland but we thought it might be different for Jeju. But since there was a confirmed case in Jeju, it was a country-wide policy that every school had to follow. It was definitely the first time every single school in Korea was shut down — especially because schools that follow the traditional Korean curriculum would start their new school year very soon (schools in Korea open around the first or second week of March).
Being in this unexpected situation, we were unsure of what to make of it. We couldn’t be happy as if school closed due to a Snow Day, but that didn’t change the fact we did get ourselves a day off.
We got a lot of emails telling what this ‘emergency closure’ means for the students, especially boarders who weren’t allowed to go back home just yet. Our school announced that we would be going ‘online’ with the learning. As a Year 11 student who’s preparing for the real IGCSE exams, I was grateful to hear that. I could not afford to lose precious lesson times as we didn’t fully cover the syllabus in some subjects.
I’m sure that two weeks of online learning won’t be too bad. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same as going to school but at times like this, we all have to stay positive and do our best!
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