Questioning The Urgency Of School Tourism Outside The City Post-Earthquake Of SMK Lingga Kencana Depok

The atmosphere of SMK Lingga Kencana, Depok City, after the accident of a tourist bus that left 11 people dead and dozens injured, Sunday (12/5/2024). (Between)/Shabrina Zakaria/am)

JAKARTA The deadly accident experienced by the group bus at the Lingga Kencana Depok Vocational School is a common concern. The urgency of separation or school tourism work outside the city is so that this culture deserves to be maintained.

A total of 11 people died following the deadly bus accident carrying the group of SMK Lingga Kencana Depok on Saturday (11/5/2024) at around 18:45 on the downhill road in the Ciater area, Subang.

Of the 11 fatalities, nine of them are students of SMK Lingga Kencana Depok, one teacher of SMK Lingga Kencana Depok, and a motorcyclist who is a resident of Subang.

This incident also involved five vehicles, namely the Trans Putera Fajar bus with the police number AD-7524-OG, Daihatsu Feroza car in the Subang lane towards Bandung, and three motorbikes.

Dozens of students from the Lingga Kencana Vocational School recently held a class XII farewell in Bandung on May 10-11. A total of 112 students and 28 teachers participated in the event using three buses.

After these incidents, it was not only a matter of bus feasibility that became a concern. Now the public is busy questioning the urgency of separation and tourism organized by schools outside the city.

The reason is, this happens quite often. In less than a year, there were at least three buses in a community service that had an accident.

On October 18, 2023, an accident occurred to a group of SMPN 3 Mojosongo tours, Bali Regency. One of the group's buses had a traffic accident on the Trans Java Toll Road in Banarawetan Village, Bogor District, Nganjuk Regency.

At that time the school group was on its way back to Boyolali after traveling to Bali. A total of six students and one teacher suffered minor injuries, while one bus assistant was reported to have died and the driver was seriously injured.

Then on December 21, 2023, a bus group of SMPN 1 Sentolo, Kulon Progo, had an accident on the Solo-Ngawi toll road in the Karanganyar Regency, Central Java.

One of the buses crashed into a truck when he returned from Bali after a tourism activity. There were no fatalities, but seven people suffered minor injuries and moderate injuries.

Most recently, on January 9, 2024, a student tourism bus carrying a group of SMAN 1 Sidoarjo students had an accident on the Solo-Ngawi Toll Road, East Java. Two people died and three people were injured.

Too many accidents during school tourism have made the public question the urgency of the school to hold the event, especially those that are done outside the city.

Not a few have urged that tourism activities and farewells as experienced by SMK Lingga Kencana be eliminated.

Regarding the accident experienced by the bus carrying a group of students from SMK Lingga Kencana Depok, the Head of the Advocacy Division of P2G Teacher Iman Zanatul Haeri said that school separation events were actually not too urgent to be held outside the city.

Moreover, in the field, not a few parents complain about the cost of separations or non-cheapful tourism.

"In educational glasses, the case experienced by SMK in Depok is actually not included in the curriculum, because the event is separate," said Iman during a conversation with VOI.

Iman kemudian merujuk Surat Edaran Kemendikbudristek Nomor 14 Tahun 2023 tentang Kegiatan Wisuda pada Satuan Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, Satuan Pendidikan Jenjang Pendidikan Dasar, Satuan Pendidikan Jenjang Pendidikan Menengah Pertama dan Satuan Pendidikan Jenjang Pendidikan Menengah Atas.

In the circular, Iman said that graduation activities should not be used as mandatory activities and the implementation of graduation activities should not burden the parents/guardians of students.

"If it's only ceremonial, it's actually not urgent, so it's forced," he added.

The management of the Social Welfare Foundation (YKS) which oversees the Lingga Kencana Vocational School, Dian Nur Farida, said that the student release event to Bandung had become an annual agenda.

Dian revealed that the event for the release of students to Bandung, which has become the annual agenda, is an agreement between the school and the parents of students. "It was an agreement before," said Dian.

As with the separation, school-held work events are also often in the spotlight. For Iman, school tourism events are required to pay attention to educational aspects, not just traveling. He did not deny that this was often forgotten by schools as organizers.

"You have to have a very strong reason to organize tourism out of town. This tourism must have a report, the term mini research. Because basically tourism is working in tourist attractions," Iman explained.

Meanwhile, P2G National Coordinator Satriwan Salim underlined three things following the many questions about the importance or importance of school tourism activities.

According to Satriwan, tourism work activities, field trip activities and the like are regular activities that are commonly carried out by schools in Indonesia, both public and private.

So far, said Satriwan, there has been no regulation governing how the scheme or pattern and SOP in organizing the tourism work. He hopes that in the future there must be a kind of guide or SOP related to how the school mechanism organizes out-of-school tourism activities, which could be created by the Ministry of Education and Culture or local governments.

"Why is this important? Because this tourism activity is also a vehicle that provides a different learning experience for children," said Satriwan.

He urged the Ministry of Education and Culture to regulate the scheme or pattern of implementation so that it can become a reference for schools or teachers.

In addition, schools are also required to have safety, comfort, and health standards in organizing tourism works, one of which is about the mode of transportation used.

"It's less agreed that tourism work is completely eliminated. What the government has to do is prepare SOPs, regulations related to the implementation of tourism," he said.

Finally, Satriwan emphasized that this activity should not burden students from the financial and school aspects not to force tourism work into certain areas.

"Don't let the tourism work scheme make it difficult. It's really a pattern of tourism that doesn't burden and bully children. Discriminatory and uneducative patterns like this must be straightened out," he said.