Grade 12 learner glad to be returning to school
One grade 12 Ferndale High School learner, Sonti Lebopa, although worried, is looking forward to returning to his classes and is ready to stay safe during this time.
With two months of school to catch up, a deadly virus to avoid and the task of completing the academic year ahead, the return to school of grade 7 and 12 learners will be a complicated.
One grade 12 Ferndale High School learner, Sonti Lebopa, although worried, is looking forward to returning to his classes and is ready to stay safe during this time.
Sonti expressed, “I’m happy that school will be reopening on the 1 June (now 8 June) because I have been facing a lot of difficulties during the lockdown with my studies. I never expected the challenge of self-studying during my years of schooling.”
The mental health of learners is an issue that Sonti believes is the biggest challenge for schools – bringing leaners back and getting them into a good state of mind for them to learn.
He explained, “We don’t all come from the same homes. There are people that hardly have food during this time, so for them to actually take the last money from their parents to come to school, will actually hurt them and their learning as well.”
This, along with concern about learners and teachers that have to come from all different areas to get to school, potentially bringing the virus with then, makes Sonti feel uneasy. The lockdown and how the virus has affected the world has shocked people globally and Sonti is one of them.
He stated, “This is the most difficult thing I have faced in my life – the lockdown actually broke some people mentally. Many people took 2020 as their year and now they think they have failed and intend to give up.”
He does encourage those feeling this way to jump out of this mindset as they still time to achieve great things in 2020. Sonti said, “We just have to work together as a school and nation and we shall achieve.”
