COVID-19 Vaccination Spokesperson: School Closures Lower Education Quality System

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the COVID-19 Vaccination of the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said based on a World Bank study, school closures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the quality of education systems in many countries in the world.

"Recent World Bank studies show a greater impact on students if schools continue to close, including on PISA scores or the examination system initiated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) evaluating education systems in 70 countries around the world, showing the occurrence of the decline in the education quality system. In addition, this study shows that the achievement of years of schooling also appears to have decreased," said Nadia, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, September 29.

In addition, Nadia continued, it is estimated that if schools continue to implement distance learning, it is possible that future income will be much lower than current conditions.

Nadia said that with the implementation of face-to-face learning, schools must ensure that they have prepared good health protocols in the school environment.

Schools must also obtain permission to open face-to-face learning, and face-to-face learning must be carried out with the permission of the parents of students, which means parents must also be actively involved in preparing their children for face-to-face learning.

"We need to protect the children's return to school so they don't get infected with COVID-19," said Nadia.

In addition to implementing proper health protocols, high vaccination coverage in adults or other targets will also provide protection for children.

The Indonesian government also conducts surveillance to evaluate the implementation of face-to-face learning.

The results of the evaluation will be used as a basis for continuing or postponing a face-to-face learning. It is part of the government's vigilance.

Regional heads are expected to support the implementation of a standardized COVID-19 surveillance strategy for the evaluation of face-to-face learning.

Nadia said the role of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force in the regions also needed to be activated, including for the implementation of school surveillance.

According to him, the surveillance strategy must be carried out together with high COVID-19 testing for people with symptoms and close contact tracing in the education unit environment.