Still Few Students Allowed To Study In School, DKI Deputy Governor Convinced Parents Will Realize Face-to-Face Learning Is Better

JAKARTA - Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria admitted that there are still few parents who allow their children to participate in face-to-face learning since the school opening trials since yesterday.

However, Riza believes that the parents will believe that their children will remain safe in school by implementing health protocols, which will increase over time.

"We are sure that parents will understand that learning is not all done online. Offline is much better, especially for certain subjects that require discussion, interaction, and practice", Riza said at Balai Kota DKI, Central Jakarta, Thursday, April 8.

Riza said parents' concern about the transmission of coronavirus if their child returns to school is natural. However, Riza claims they will optimize this face-to-face learning.

"We will make sure the limited mix offline-online learning is done well. We will explain the process, the stages are done well. I think it will engender trust in the public and parents", he said.

A total of 85 schools in Jakarta began to conduct trials of school openings for face-to-face learning starting Wednesday, April 7. Riza said that the students who attended the school were quite enthusiastic about attending face-to-face learning.

However, it turns out that there are still few parents who allow their children to study offline. Approximately, still, 20 to 30 percent of parents allow their children to learn face-to-face.

The head of the Education Office of DKI Nahdiana said that the school that opened has passed the training for two weeks. School levels are opened ranging from elementary schools/junior high schools/Islamic schools, high schools/vocational schools/learning centers/Course and Training Institute (LKP).

The health protocol applied in the school opening trials is that the limited number of face-to-face days is one day a week for one class level.

The number of students is limited to a maximum of 50 percent of the capacity per class and a distance of 1.5 meters between students.

The duration of study is limited to 3 to 4 hours in one day. Limited learning materials, i.e. only essential materials are delivered to face-to-face learning.

Education units that have participated in blended learning training. Educators and educational personnel present at the school have been vaccinated.

Then, if symptoms are found to be exposed to COVID-19 in students and educators, the school immediately coordinates with the nearest health center for further examination.

"If it is known that there are positive cases of exposure to COVID-19, then the education unit is closed for 3x24 hours for disinfection and further tracing by the Health Office. Then, the education unit was reopened, after the authorities declared the school safe from exposure to COVID-19", he concluded.