Dedi Mulyadi's Study Tour Ban Policy Is Not Right: Disrupts Students, Kills Tourism

West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi gave a speech to students of SMAN 2 Purwakarta, Wednesday (14/5/2025). (ANTARA/Fitra Ashari)

JAKARTA The policy on the prohibition tour issued by the Governor of West Java, Dedi Mulyadi, has returned to the spotlight. Most recently, he was demonstrated by those who worked in the tourism sector.

Dedi Mulyadi signed a Circular prohibiting student tours that are usually organized by schools. The policy was implemented by the West Java Provincial Government in May 2025, and is claimed to make it difficult for workers in the tourism sector due to lack of orders.

They finally held solidarity action demanding that Dedi Mulyadi give leeway, or even revoke the policy because it was considered detrimental to the tourism sector. Herdi Sudarja, the coordinator of the West Java Tourism Workers' solidarity action (P3JB) assessed that the impact of this policy was more machete than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ban on public tours for schools originated from Dedi Mulyadi's concern about travel practices that were considered to deviate from educational goals.

The prohibition is contained in Circular Letter (SE) Number 43/PK.03.04/Kesra 9 West Java Education Development Steps Towards the Realization of Gapura Panca Waluya. This SE was published in May 2025, three months after Dedi was sworn in as Governor of West Java.

Previously, when he was still the Regent of Purwakarta, Dedi saw many schools holding studies tours outside the city which actually caused financial burdens for students' parents, without clear educational benefits.

Dedi assessed that study tours often turn into expensive recreational events with minimal educational value. In fact, in some cases, students are more focused on shopping tourism than learning. Instead, he encouraged schools to organize educational tourism activities in the regions.

However, Dedi Mulyadi's policy was rejected by a number of regional heads. There were five regional heads who refused. They are Bandung Regent Dadang Supriatna, Cirebon Mayor Effendi Edo, Karawang Regent Aep Syaepuloh, Sumedang Regent Dony Ahmad Munir, and Bandung Mayor Muhammad Farhan.

Muhammad Farhan said the study tour was not a problem. During the activity, it is not related to student academic assessments.

"Yes, as long as it has nothing to do with academic grades," said Farhan.

In fact, Fahran invited the activity to be carried out outside the city of Bandung. He also positively welcomed the arrival of schools from outside the area who wanted to study in Bandung.

"Mangga weh (just go), I can't forbid it, when I forbid it," he said.

The study tour ban issued by Dedi Mulyadi received criticism from a public policy observer at Parahyangan University (Unpar) Kristian Widya Wicaksono. According to him, this policy has the potential to cause huge losses to the tourism sector if implemented without a long-term evaluation.

"Because there are a lot of workers who have been living and their income from this sector. Of course, the Governor of West Java needs to consider this," said Kristian.

Although only a few months have been implemented, this policy has had a negative impact on the regional tourism economy. If it continues to be maintained, it is not impossible that the sector will die.

Currently, according to Kristian's assessment, the governor has two options. First, listen to business actors' complaints and reconsider their decisions, and secondly, continue to maintain policies based on data-based evaluation. He stressed that public policies must be made with a proof-based approach, not just because of the pressure of some parties or intuition.

"This is already an experience based policy, so you can't make decisions based solely on intuition or only based on partial complaints from a number of parents who feel that their children are forcing themselves to participate in student tour activities," said Kristian.

Study tour is a travel activity specifically designed for educational purposes. This activity is often an annual agenda for educational institutions and is one that students have been waiting for. By visiting historical sites, science centers, or cultural destinations, students get a learning experience directly in the field that cannot be obtained only in the classroom or from textbooks.

But behind its benefits, the study tour also faces challenges. In the past few years, this activity has been in the spotlight of many parties because it is considered "consistent from the original destination". In addition to the potential to provide financial additional burden to some parents, several accidents involving groups of students on traveltudy tours have also raised concerns.

Responding to this prohibition, what happened not only in West Java but also in Banten, the Coordinator of the Education and Teacher Association (P2G) Satriwan Salim assessed that Dedi Mulyadi hit all activities outside the classroom as a study tour.

He emphasized that these two things were something different. According to him, if the study without touring or outdoor learning has its own theory that has been implemented in several countries in Asia to Europe.

"So academically the basis is clearly different. What was the name earlier? Outdoor learning. Why is there outdoor learning? Because a lot of research shows in journals, learning in class is boring," said Satriwan.

According to him, students want a learning process that provides relevant and contextual learning experiences. One of the efforts is to do outdoor learning or outing classes.

The problem, according to Satriwan, is the activity without a stunt or in other words, activities outside the room without any academic content. He mentioned that one of the problems of without a stunty activity under the pretext of a private tour is the cost that burdens the parents.

For this reason, he did not deny that P2G agreed to ban the study tour, which only focuses on traveling, while outdoor learning activities deserve to be carried out, of course, while still paying attention to Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which contain aspects of security, safety, health, and assistance.

Regarding the problem of parents' objections regarding the cost of activities, Satriwan suggested that it should be facilitated by School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds from the center and regions. According to him, untoured stunting activities, or it can also be called field trip, should not be eliminated because the activities are academically charged.

"If the number one is we have agreed to cut it, it is forbidden to study tours, which are only tours, but schools require students, this is of course a burden on parents. But number two (field trip) is a necessity," concluded Satriwan.