The teachers, parents and a talented photographer at a local Chinese school here however, solved the problem by taking themed photos seperately and editing them together in the end.
Just have a look at some of the adorable class pictures from SJK(C) Keat Hwa (K) in Alor Setar, Kedah.
A unique concept
The group shots posted on the school's Facebook page have been a hit.It's been shared more than 7,000 times and liked more than 11,000 times now with many saying that it was a unique COVID-19 SOP compliant idea.
"Thanks to our photographer and beautiful team, in compliance with the SOPs, with a lot of creativity and effort, we were able to take a different kind of class photo this year despite the pandemic.
"The photographer captured the most beautiful moments! Some children were innocent and cute, some reserved and gentle, some quirky, and some quiet and shy," the school said in the post.
A deeper meaning to the photos
Meanwhile, when contacted by Rojak Daily, a team of very excited people from SJK(C) Keat Hwa (K) including its headmaster Wong Swee Wah, PIBG president Chong Boon Cheir, PIBG vice president Ang Kwang Yih, photographer Teoh Thian Heow and Senior Assistant Co-curriculum Goh Yee Boss explained that the whole process was actually quite a complicated one."We had a discussion on how to take a nice group picture with classmates despite the pandemic. According to the SOPs there was no way that the kids and teachers could stand together for a phot so we thought of this concept," said Chong.
Photographer Teoh said it actually took one and a half months to capture pictures of the 856 pupils and two months to edit it.
"It was difficult because every class had different numbers of students. We would call 10 at a time and each would wait in designated areas and be called in for the photo.
"The good thing is that the kids were really excited to take them," he said.
Goh and Ang latter added that the designs were actually put together according to the six main principles of the school which are - love, respect, gratitude, environmental protection, technology and humanistic culture.
"It's not just random designs. We put a lot of thought into it," they said.
Meanwhile, the school's principle commented that he was delighted at the response by Malaysians.
"It left a lasting impression. We were really quite sad when we heard how students from other schools especially those in their final year were upset because they could not take their class photo. Perhaps this idea can be adopted and used in other schools too," he said while thanking everyone involved in the project.