Bandung City Government Stops Trial Of Face-to-Face Learning In Schools Because COVID-19 Cases Continue To Increase There

Regional Secretary for the City of Bandung, Ema Sumarna. (Bagus Ahmad Rizaldi/Antara)

JAKARTA - The City Government (Pemkot) of Bandung, West Java, has stopped limited face-to-face learning (PTM) trials in every school due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.

Mayor of Bandung Oded M Danial said that with the termination of PTM, now students from elementary, junior high, to senior high school are back doing online distance learning.

"The implementation of the limited PTM simulation has been stopped as of today, so the simulation has been stopped," said Oded at Bandung City Hall, West Java, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, June 16.

The plan is that the limited PTM will run normally in July 2021. However, due to the increasingly worrying pandemic situation, he will wait for directions regarding PTM from the central government.

So far, the Bandung City Government through the Education Office has conducted a limited PTM trial since June 7, 2021. The plan is that the process will last until June 18, 2021.

Meanwhile, the Regional Secretary for the City of Bandung, Ema Sumarna, ensured that the policy was issued because it took public safety into account.

From what he saw in the field, a number of schools were indeed ready and understood the COVID-19 health protocol and its provisions for holding limited PTM.

"What I see is that all (schools) are ready to implement PTMT, but this is not in line with the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Ema.