Even Though COVID-19 Cases Are Starting To Rise, Anies Doesn't Want To Stop Face-to-face School Trials

ILLUSTRATION / BETWEEN

JAKARTA - The number of COVID-19 cases in DKI Jakarta has begun to increase again amidst the trial for opening schools with face-to-face learning. Even though COVID-19 cases are rising, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan does not want to stop face-to-face school trials.

"When we talk about the opening of schools, we are still in the piloting phase. So the piloting will continue", said Anies at the City Hall of DKI, Central Jakarta, Thursday, April 22.

According to Anies, face-to-face schools which were used as monitoring during the trial period were aimed at mapping learning procedures or protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So this will not stop. The piloting process is important for our provisions. So that we have better information to organize school governance during a pandemic", said Anies.

A total of 85 schools in Jakarta have started piloting schools for face-to-face learning starting Wednesday, April 7. The school that opened has passed the training for two weeks. The levels of schools that are opened start from Elementary school, junior high school, high school, and Center for community learning activities/training course institutions.

There is also a health protocol that is applied in the school opening trial, which is that the number of face-to-face days is limited to one day a week for one class level.

The number of students is limited with a maximum of 50 percent of the capacity per class and a distance of 1.5 meters between students.

The study duration is limited to 3 to 4 hours per day. Learning materials are limited, that is, only essential materials are delivered in face-to-face learning.

If there are symptoms of COVID-19 exposure in students and educators, the school will immediately coordinate with the nearest health center for further examination.

In the midst of face-to-face school trials, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Health Office, Widyastuti, explained that in the last few weeks there has been a fluctuating increase in active cases. Where on April 5 there were 6,075 active cases and as of April 22, it increased to 6,440 cases.

"This is starting to increase again. I remind DKI residents that 3M, including avoiding crowds and avoiding mobilization, is very important. Because, our experience last year and this weekend, it shows that population activity has increased and numbers have moved up", he said.