But the two weeks turned into months of lockdown, and Chan was left to doing most of his studies online, a huge hurdle in his preparations for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“Some of my teachers didn’t even bother to come online to teach while we waited for them. They would leave us assignments without lessons. Many told us to write our own notes, refusing to teach. Some even sent us Youtube videos as a substitute for class teaching,” he said.
Once schools reopened in July, Chan recalls, his teachers were rushing through the syllabus to try and cover as much as possible in time for the SPM trials. They covered a new topic every hour, he claims.
While Chan has successfully completed his trial exams, he is still waiting to sit for the SPM exam, which has been postponed twice due to the pandemic.
Frustrating as it is, Chan can consider himself lucky. Nurul Rifayah told FMT that her trial examinations were interrupted when schools in the Klang Valley were ordered to close during the conditional movement control order in October.
“We still have to sit for some papers once schools reopen on Jan 20. Our first paper is scheduled for Jan 21, and after our trials will go on for another two weeks. That means we’ll only have one week to revise before our actual SPM,” she said.
All students facing examinations are required to be back in school on Jan 20 while others in the MCO states have to wait longer.
Nurul also questioned the government’s decision for all major exams to go ahead despite the daily four-digit Covid-19 cases and with several states hit by floods.
“Our Sejarah Paper 3 questions came out yesterday, and some of us were disappointed; we felt it was unfair for the flood victims,” she said, adding that she knew of students in Pahang who were struggling to focus on the questions or doing research on them because they faced bigger problems – like rebuilding their houses.
“We are tired, it’s been an entire year. What’s the point of calling for an emergency or having another MCO when over 200 candidates have to sit together in a hall for the exams?”
The SPM exams are scheduled to begin on Feb 22. Education minister Radzi Jidin had previously said his ministry wanted students sitting for major exams to return to school next week to feel more motivated.
However, according to Nurul, the impacts of the pandemic and months of online classes have only left SPM candidates anxious, as they are ill-prepared to sit for their exams.
She cited her own experience of her mother passing away last year due to breast cancer shortly before her trials, which had left her “mentally exhausted”.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, echoed similar sentiments, saying the challenge of adapting to online classes had left many young students feeling depressed.
“There have been bad experiences, where sometimes the internet is slow and many teachers struggle to teach us virtually,” she said, adding that some of her classes have gone on as late as 9pm, as they were scheduled according to the teachers’ availability.
She also said the idea of returning to school made her uneasy because she was afraid of getting infected and bringing the virus home to her ageing grandparents.
Nurul urged the education ministry to come up with a system to replace the 2020 SPM exams, such as holding university admission exams according to the field students’ wished to pursue their tertiary education in.
“The quality of education and our country’s rankings are important, but to improve this you must focus on students’ mental health first. Even the UK has cancelled all General Certification of Secondary Education (GCSE) and A-level exams after the lockdown,” she said.
Meanwhile, Chan called for the SPM to be scrapped entirely this year, saying other groups such as the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) should not speak on behalf of students.
“They are not students themselves, so how can we expect them to understand our hardships?”