My Zone asked learners from Dawid Bezuidenhoudt High School their opinions on wearing masks to school every day. Here is what they had to say.

Romeo Morkel

For me, wearing a mask every day has become a habit although in the beginning it was irritating but I eventually got used to it. It is actually a trending fashion to wear a mask nowadays because it seems as if we haven’t accepted the reality of the situation. Branded masks have become a fashion but I still find it irritating because I wear glasses and breathing with a mask fogs up my glasses and thus hampers my vision.

Pauleth Dauses

It’s an overwhelming and unusual experience. Definitely a new type of normal. Some people are ignorant and don’t take it seriously. Business people use it as a profit-making opportunity without caring for the community as they create masks that are not suitable for breathing.

Mbaunda Kazombungo

At first the new look came with a certain sense of excitement and had a pinch of coolness to it. Seeing everyone with a mask struck me as strange and weird. Now I see a mask as a liability. Constantly having to carry it around, wearing it at all times and with it being slippery easy to lose or misplace, the task has become a hassle. It makes it difficult to breathe, especially if you have a chronic illness.

Valencia van Wyk

It is very suffocating. We tend to forget the masks at home and then we have to head back just because of it, since we can’t enter class without it. Unable to show our facial expressions that reveal our emotions behind the mask is frustrating. We find it difficult to talk with the mask on and the other person can’t always hear you clearly. It feels like we have lost our identity behind the masks.

Mbahimisa Tjaveondja

The experience of wearing a mask at school every day is pretty fine as it is for my own good. I do experience difficulty in breathing; it also causes a rash and on odd days I have a headache and it feels very uncomfortable.

Albertha Berends

It’s suffocating and it makes me feel as if I have lost my identity behind the mask. I am unable to express emotions; I feel totally isolated. One isn’t able to read other children’s emotions as their faces are partially covered. It not easy to recognise each other and it makes me feel that I am always in danger.