Minister Of Education And Culture Nadiem Called Indonesia The Slowest Country To Open Face-to-Face Schools

Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim revealed that Indonesia was the slowest country to open face-to-face schools among 23 countries in the East Asia and Asia-Pacific regions.

"Ladies and gentleman, we will see 1 statistic which worries me quite a bit. Of all 23 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, 85 percent of all countries have opened the schools", said Nadiem in a meeting with Commission IX DPR RI, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, March 18.

Nadiem explained, only 15 percent of schools in the country have conducted face-to-face schools. According to him, this figure is far from other Asian countries.

Meanwhile in the United States, even though the vaccination is running fast, the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic there are more severe, but 40 percent have met face to face.

"We in 15 percent of that country are still only partially open. But the fact is that 15 percent is not partially open, but most of them are closed. So the decision is how far we want to be left behind from other countries?", he explained.

Nadiem assessed that the government's decision to open face-to-face schools during the pandemic was a good step. Because, he said, children must immediately undergo learning at school.

"So this is really our decision as policy makers and the decision of the government and all agencies that care about our children that we must return the children to face-to-face learning as soon as possible", he concluded.