Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down. From minor things to enormous things, the world is becoming completely different from where we used to live. We are recommended not to go out, not to eat out and not to have gathered even for the biggest holiday of the year. When we go out, we have to wear masks almost everywhere. It was unimaginable just a year ago. A lot of things have changed in schools too.

Since early this year students go to school physically for a week and take online classes for the next two weeks because they have to go to school by grade to prevent mass infection. Generally in online classes, students are supposed to watch videos that teachers uploaded and solve quizzes. How do teachers know if their students are present? Instead of traditional roll call, they are to write their names and numbers on Kakao Talk for the attendance check at the beginning. Then they can start to take classes according to the timetable. At 12:30, students eat lunch or take a rest for about 1 hour. After lunchtime, they take afternoon classes and finish assignments. Sometimes, there are zoom classes to have live classes with both students and teacher's faces on the screen. While taking zoom classes, students can communicate with one another and do projects together.

"It was a very new and fun experience at first because I had never taken classes this way. But now Online class is getting part of our lives like going to school." Jaesung Yoo, a 9th grader from Singu Middle School said. He added "The more I do online classes the stranger I feel to go to school physically.

"It is a great challenge for teachers too.” A teacher at Singu Middle School said. He also mentioned "Never have I experienced this in my life. I'm so embarrassed at this unusual situation. We are busy preparing online classes and following the Ministry of Education. Covid-19 has to be finished quickly for both the students and the teachers.

Photo: Image of online live class(Source: Getty Image Korea)

How about physical classes? Their school is changed into a new form that students have never imagined. The first thing students do when they arrive at school is to check their conditions of health using a self-diagnosis app. In hallways, quarantine teachers do the secondary examination using a thermal detection camera. In classrooms, they clean their desks with sanitizer and wear masks. The classrooms are separated from one another. When they move to another classroom, they have to keep some distance. In some classrooms, students sit on both sides of transparent plates. After class, quarantine teachers disinfect classrooms and ventilate classrooms. During lunch, students are requested to go to the cafeteria by class. In the cafeteria, they sit zigzag over the transparent plates. In break time, they must not go to another classroom or use the schoolyard.

Jeasung mentioned "Our school is not like the school I knew. I want to play soccer and talk with my friends. We are sick of these school lives and miss our old lives. Not only the teachers but also the students are suffering from Covid-19."

Photo: Empty playground of Singu Middle School with Covid-19(Photographed by Changhoon Jun)

It may not be just COVID 19, but recently, more and more viruses are born and affect our lives directly. It is not the time to complain about inconvenience or difficulty, but to change ourselves into good citizens with citizenship and consideration. Most of all complying with the guidelines of the CDC(Center for Disease Control) is the best and quickest way to defeat this disaster.