Schools Reopening In January 2021, Is It Really Safe From COVID-19?

JAKARTA - Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim announced that schools were allowed to resume teaching and learning activities in January 2021 or in the even semester of the 2020-2021 school year.

This policy is in the spotlight because the condition of the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia still cannot be said that it has been resolved properly.

Nadiem's decision was based on several things, including the results of an internal survey by the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK) which was held in October.

Through this survey, the central government got an idea, there are a number of negative impacts of distance learning (PJJ) in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the high dropout rate because there are students who are asked by their parents to work to help the family economy, pressure that makes students become stressed so that many students are trapped in cases of violence because the teacher is not detected at school.

So, he decided that local governments now have the flexibility to determine the opening of schools in their area. However, it is not only the local government, there are two other parties that must have one voice so that schools can reopen and teaching and learning activities can be carried out face-to-face, namely the principal and parents of students who are represented by the school committee.

When these three parties agree, then schools in one area can be reopened even though they have to undergo some adjustments during the pandemic. Among other things, reducing the number of students attending by as much as 50 percent, and not carrying out crowd-making activities such as sports and extracurricular activities.

Epidemiologist from Australia's Griffith University, Dicky Budiman, assessed that the government should not be in a hurry and must have a careful calculation regarding the re-opening of schools for face-to-face learning.

He said, there needs to be a comprehensive strategy from the government to welcome the opening of schools, considering that currently Indonesia's conditions for opening schools are deemed not safe enough. Moreover, until now, the positivity rate in the country is actually not ready for an easing because it is still above 10 percent.

"In terms of current conditions and epidemiological data, based on the WHO's easing criteria, the criteria for reopening schools, pesantren and campuses have not been fulfilled," said Dicky when contacted by VOI, Monday, November 23.

The criteria for easing according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which he touched on were a positivity rate which should be below five percent and a decrease in the daily positive case rate for two consecutive weeks.

"This must be fulfilled first if you really want to get a curve and prevent and protect our children, families and society," he said.

To achieve this, Dicky reminded the government to optimize the 3T strategy or tracing (tracking), testing (testing) and treatment, as well as strengthening the implementation of 3M, namely wearing masks, maintaining distance, and washing hands with soap in the community.

The 3T strategy, he continued, felt that it needed to be optimized because he saw that this was not getting enough attention from the government.

"Our testing is still lacking, it's been nine months unequal, uneven, let alone the tracing," he said.

In addition, Dicky also highlighted the handing over of this opening to the local government. According to him, this is not entirely appropriate to do because the role of the central government is still needed, including to provide facilities and fill gaps that occur in each region. Moreover, he saw that there were still many areas that did not really understand how to handle this pandemic.

"This is a new disease, an epidemic. Never mind in the regions, not many people know and understand," he said.

"It cannot be completely left to the regions, because there must be a central government role in each sector," he added.

The request for the government not to rush into opening schools for teaching and learning activities also came from the Association for Education and Teachers (P2G). This association asks that face-to-face learning activities should be carried out after the COVID-19 vaccine is available and given to the community.

"P2G basically asks the Regional Heads not to open schools nationally until the COVID-19 vaccine has been produced, has gone through all trial stages, and is proven safe and lawful. After these prerequisites are fulfilled, then schools can be opened nationally gradually. , "said P2G Coordinator, Satriwan Salim in his written statement to reporters.

In addition, he said, P2G has a number of recommendations and notes on the decision announced by Nadiem on Friday, November 19.

The first recommendation, the opening of schools must be with the consent of parents without exception. In addition, parents should not be forced to give permission for their children to study at school.

"If there are some parents in the school who do not allow their children to enter, the teachers and schools are still obliged to provide learning services to these students, both online and offline," said Satriwan.

Second, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Religion who take care of educational activities at the pesantren must intervene directly to check the readiness of the school, the readiness of school infrastructure for health protocols, readiness and parental consent.

Third, P2G assesses that the government must take firm action against the education office or local government that violates the rules for opening this school.

Fourth, P2G assesses that there is a need for a swab test for teachers and students before schools reopen. This needs to be done so that they are free from the dangers of COVID-19. However, the budget for this swab test should not be taken from the school operational assistance (BOS).

Finally, this association considers that this distance learning activity should be carried out continuously until the end of the 2020-2021 school year or until July 2021 of course with a number of service improvements.

Furthermore, P2G assessed that learning has the potential not to run effectively and optimally even though the government allows teaching and learning activities in schools to be carried out. Because, there are a number of activities that should not be done, such as sports lessons to extracurriculars.

"Teachers will also not be able to optimally supervise student activities after exiting the school gate. Where are they playing, doing what, with whom, and riding what, all of which are outside the supervision of teachers. Here also lies the potential spread of COVID-19 which we are worried about," concluded Satriwan.