Batam Holds Face-to-Face Learning Starting Next Week

BATAM - The Batam City Government, Riau Islands plans to implement a face-to-face learning policy starting next week, along with the decline in cases of COVID-19 transmission.

"If there are no obstacles, our face-to-face learning will start next week," said Deputy Mayor of Batam Amsakar Achmad, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, September 15.

This policy, especially for elementary and junior high schools, is the authority of the city government. As for the high school equivalent, he said, the provincial government will determine.

Now, the Batam City Government is drafting technical rules related to face-to-face learning in schools so that the implementation runs smoothly by implementing strict COVID-19 transmission prevention health protocols.

He emphasized that the Batam City Government only gave permission to carry out face-to-face learning with a number of conditions that must be complied with.

"We have reported to the Mayor Muhammad Rudi, he basically agrees, as long as all schools and parents can jointly commit to implementing health protocols," said the Deputy Mayor.

The Education Office was asked to discuss technical matters with the Principal Work Meeting (MKKS) and parents of students.

The rules applied include limiting the number of students in class and preparing a place to wash hands.

Schools must also pocket a statement of face-to-face learning activities at school.

"This means that parents must agree that their children go to school face-to-face," he said.

According to Amsakar, 91 percent of schools in Batam are ready to carry out face-to-face learning by meeting the specified requirements.

Meanwhile, based on data from the Batam City COVID-19 Handling Task Force, the cure rate reached 96.31 percent, the death rate was 3.23 percent, and active cases were 0.46 percent.

There are only 117 residents who are still undergoing treatment because they are positive for COVID-19.