5 Factors Of Students Dropping Out Of School During A Pandemic: From Having To Work To Online Game Addiction

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) noted five factors that caused students to drop out of school during the COVID-19 pandemic. This factor is because children have to work, get married, are in arrears in tuition fees, die, and are addicted to online games.

KPAI Commissioner for Education Retno Listyarti said the areas monitored for this condition were Bandung City, Cimahi City, Bengkulu City, Seluma Regency, and DKI Jakarta Province.

"The monitoring is carried out under direct supervision of the City of Bandung and Cimahi, and online interviews with teachers and principals of the Indonesian Teachers Union Federation (FSGI) teacher network in February", said Retno in her statement on Sunday, March 7.

1. Students drop out of school because of work

Retno said a number of vocational and junior high school students were forced to work because their parents were economically affected during the pandemic. So that children have to help the family economy. This is true especially for children who come from poor families.

"There is one junior high school student in Cimahi who works as a construction worker to help his family's economy. There is one student in Jakarta who works in a printing press to help his parents' business because the company has no employees since the pandemic and there are few printed orders", said Retno.

2. Students drop out of school because they are married

Retno found that 33 students had dropped out of school because they got married from Seluma District, Bengkulu City, and Bima Regency. The average married students are in 12th grade which is a few months away from the school graduation exam.

"Because distance learning (PJJ) is still applied, the majority of students are married without the knowledge of their schools. The homeroom teacher or Counseling Guidance (BK) teacher just found out after a home visit because they never joined PJJ again", she explained.

3. Students drop out of school because they are in arrears for months of tuition fees

KPAI received complaints about cases of students in arrears in tuition fees for months, which was quite high. As of March 2020 to February 2021, there were 34 cases. Retno said, nearly 90 percent of cases came from private schools and 75 percent of cases were from high school/vocational school levels. On average, those who complained had not paid tuition fees for 6 to 11 months.

"School arrears occur due to the impact of the pandemic, where the family economy of these children has been significantly affected, it's been difficult for them to fulfill their daily needs, that makes them having to sacrifice the tuition fees", said Retno.

She continued that private schools which were also affected by the arrears generally sent bills to parents of students. However, because there is no money to pay at all, many parents decide to drop their children out of school.

4. Students Passed Away

The results of monitoring cases of students dropping out of school due to death occurred at a high school in Bima Regency because they have swept away during the floods last January. Another one came from a private vocational school in Jakarta who died due to a motorbike accident.

"So according to KPAI data, there were 2 students who died in the semester of the 2020/2021 academic year", said Retno.

5. Addicted to online games

KPAI obtained data that there were 2 7th graders of junior high school who quit school because they were addicted to online games. This happened in the city of Cimahi. One of them is on leave for 1 year for the psychological recovery process.

Retno received reports from teachers that the children who did not appear at the online school in the morning were still sleeping because they played online games until dawn.

"PJJ online which requires online tools and internet actually has an impact on children addicted to online games. This could be due to weak parental supervision and it could also be due to children's efforts to divert boredom during the pandemic which requires them to stay at home", she concluded.

Of the five factors, Retno gave recommendations, namely that the state must be present to prevent children from dropping out of school during the pandemic due to economic problems or because of the absence of online tools.

Then, the central and local governments must help vulnerable groups, namely children coming out of poverty who have a strong potential to drop out of school.

Regarding the problem of online game addiction, parents must provide assistance, education, and supervision to their children while studying at home.