Worried About The Spike In COVID-19 Cases In Children, The Government Is Asked To Review The Opening Of PTM And Mal

Illustrations- (Photo: DOK Forbes)

JAKARTA - The government is asked to review the policy on opening face-to-face learning (PTM) in schools and opening shopping centers or malls. Given the prediction that the third wave of COVID-19 will occur in December.

Member of the House of Representatives Commission IX, Netty Prasetiyani Aher, urged the government to immediately take anticipatory steps related to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in children after the implementation of PTM.

"Based on data in the field, cases began to occur to clusters of COVID-19 in several schools after the implementation of PTM was limited. The government must immediately take anticipatory steps so that cases of COVID-19 in children do not continue to increase," said Netty to reporters, Tuesday, September 28.

Netty revealed that a number of parties, such as teacher organizations that are members of the Education and Teacher Association (P2G) have asked the government to postpone PTM. The government, he said, should consider input from educator organizations before deciding on the implementation of the PTM. "Don't close your eyes and ears to the considerations of those who really understand the field conditions," said Netty.

Moreover, he continued, based on data from September 23, 2021, vaccination of children aged 12-17 years from the target of 26 million, only reached 12.79 percent of dose 1 and 8.84 percent of dose 2.

"The realization of vaccination for children 12 to 17 years old is still low. This means that there are still many children who come to school in a condition that has not been vaccinated," said Netty.

In addition, the PKS politician continued, there are still many schools that do not meet the standard of learning readiness. Such as the availability of sanitation and hygiene facilities, the availability of health facilities, and mapping of school residents. "Only 59 percent of schools have filled out the Face-to-Face Learning Readiness Checklist," he explained.

Until now, added Netty, with the number of infected reaching 4,209,403 and the death of 141,585 people, WHO still places Indonesia as a country that must be aware of the pandemic.

"Currently, people's mobility is getting higher, public transportation is getting denser, malls and shopping centers are also getting busier. Even children under 12 years old are now allowed to enter malls and shopping centers. Conditions like this are prone to triggering transmission," explained the West Java legislator.

Therefore, Netty reminded the government to review the limited PTM policy and allow children to enter the mall. As well as anticipating the euphoric atmosphere of the community due to the decline in the level of PPKM in a number of regions. "Make maximum efforts so as not to open up space for the emergence of a third wave. Moreover, new variants are also lurking in. Don't make policies that will make us reap the harvest of COVID-19," said Netty.