Dispendik Surabaya: Few Parents Allow Their Children To Learn Face-to-face

ILLUSTRATION/DOCK BETWEEN

SURABAYA - The Surabaya Education Office (Dispendik) said that there are still few guardians of elementary school (SD) and high school students (SMP) in the city that allow their children to take part in face-to-face learning (PTM).

Head of the Surabaya Dispendik Supomo said that the implementation of limited PTM still prioritizes approval from the student's guardian in the form of a letter. In the letter, students must be allowed by their parents or guardians to participate in limited PTM.

"No less important is that we ask the parents for their willingness in the form of a statement that their children are allowed to take part in the PTM," he said, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 31.

Based on data held by the Surabaya Dispendik, he continued, for the junior high school level, until now, only about 6.4 percent of students' parents have approved or allowed their children to participate in limited PTM out of a total of about 115,000 junior high school students in the city of Surabaya.

"For elementary students, there are more parents who agree. The percentage is 9.2 percent," said Supomo.

He also explained that the highest percentage of parents who allowed their children to participate in PTM came from the Community Learning Activity Center (PKBM), which was 50.2 percent. Then, only about 0.5 percent of parents from course and training institutions (LKP) allow their children to participate in limited PTM.

"The PKBM, such as pursuing packages A, B, and C, the percentage is 50.2 percent. Meanwhile, from LKP it's only 0.5 percent," he continued.

Supomo admits that he is not worried about the lack of guardians who allow their children to participate in limited PTM. According to him, this happened because currently many guardians of students are still monitoring the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and want to see first how the PTM is limited.

"I think later when the other children have studied and they feel comfortable and safe, I think later they will follow or approve their children to take PTM," he said.

Supomo added that the limited PTM will be carried out in stages, starting Monday, September 6. The maximum capacity of classrooms is only 25 percent. This is in accordance with the direction of the Mayor of Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi.

"Earlier, the mayor said that each room had a capacity of 25 percent first while looking at the development of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Even so, assessments of schools in ensuring the readiness of PTM are still being carried out by the municipal government. In fact, he also formed many teams so that the assessment process could be completed quickly.

"The number of schools from elementary to junior high school is a lot. So we hope the assessment process can be completed soon," he said.

In addition, Dispendik also prepared a task force to accelerate the handling of COVID-19 consisting of teachers and education personnel in each school. The plan, he will also involve students as the COVID-19 task force. This is because student participation can provide additional knowledge about how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to other students.

"Hopefully, with the involvement of these students, they can communicate with their friends regarding preventing the spread of COVID-19, because they have the same social language. So, it will make it easier for us to convey messages to them to obey health protocols," he said.