Prepare Surveillance Strategy For Schools, Ministry Of Health Attempts To Prevent The Spread Of COVID-19 During PTM

ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the government was preparing a strategy to prevent face-to-face learning (PTM) from becoming a COVID-19 cluster. This needs to be done because direct learning in schools needs to be implemented immediately.

"We also believe that all Indonesian students should study as quickly as possible so that we don't lose their chance to improve their knowledge directly with their teachers. For that we need to be escorted by good surveillance methods and health protocols," Budi said at a press conference held aired on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, September 4.

He said the government had developed an active method of surveillance for schools. The Ministry of Health will conduct random checks in schools in districts and cities. If from this check it is found that the positivity rate is above five percent, the direct learning must be stopped for two weeks.

"While others can continue to study face-to-face and if the positive rate is below one percent, we will use the usual surveillance method, namely those that are positive or confirmed and close contacts are quarantined," explained the former Deputy Minister of SOEs.

With these various ways, Budi hopes that the discovery of COVID-19 cases in schools can be maximized. Moreover, this kind of method has been carried out in DKI Jakarta.

"So the results are already in Jakarta. There are indeed positive ones and we continue to work with the Ministry of Education to improve the quality of this surveillance," he said.

Previously reported, Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Makarim said that his party was not too worried about the transmission of COVID-19 during face-to-face learning (PTM). The reasons are various prevention of the corona virus has been done.

Nadiem said that his party was more worried that there were still schools that did not implement PTM, causing learning loss or loss of academic ability.

"We are not too worried about trances when schools have started PTM. I'm even more worried that only 40 percent of our schools are holding PTM. So actually 60 percent of schools have allowed PTM but haven't done it yet," Nadiem said in a press conference that aired on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Monday, September 27.

He explained that learning loss is more scary and this is because the children have not attended face-to-face school for too long.

"Data from the world bank and research institutions show how scary learning loss can be outside of psychological conditions, especially at the elementary and early childhood education levels," he said.

"So it worries us how long children have been doing PJJ which is far from the effectiveness of face-to-face schools," added Nadiem.