Unvaccinated Children Are Prohibited From Studying In Schools, Parents In Padang Are Angry, Complain To The West Sumatra Ombudsman

A number of parents of students in Padang visited the Office of the Ombudsman representative for West Sumatra (ANTARA)

PADANG - Dozens of guardians of students in Padang, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) reported the school and the local Education Office to the Ombudsman representative of West Sumatra because their children were prohibited from studying face-to-face by the school. This prohibition came from the school because the students had not been vaccinated.

"We reported it to the Ombudsman because children do not have the right to study. If parents are not willing to have their children vaccinated, children can still study at home online, but what is happening now is that the school is telling us to teach our children ourselves," said the representative. student's parents, Andre Astoni in Padang reported by Antara, Thursday, February 10.

With this policy, his party reports and asks the Ombudsman for help so that children's rights to education continue even though they have not been vaccinated. When children have not been vaccinated, schools should still facilitate online learning.

When asked why his child had not been vaccinated, he said that each parent had different reasons.

"There are those who are anti-vaccine because they don't agree with injections, and there are other arguments," said Andre Astoni, who is also the Chair of the SDIT Luqman Padang Committee.

Meanwhile, another guardian who did not want to be named said that this morning when he took the children to school, they arrived at the location where there was a police guard. "Because my child has not been vaccinated, he was finally sent home," he said.

He wondered why the school had to be guarded by the police because it could create fear in children.

Meanwhile, Assistant Ombudsman for West Sumatra, Adel Wahidi, said that so far, dozens of student guardians have reported from five elementary schools in Padang. "The complaint is the same, children do not get the right to study at school because they have not been vaccinated," he said.

He sees the potential for maladministration and will prove it after summoning the relevant parties, namely the school and the Padang Education Office.

Education services are mandatory, the government cannot simply refuse children or return them to their parents because they have not been vaccinated.

He regrets that education has been stopped for children who have not been vaccinated, while from reports that come in there are parents who have registered their children for vaccines, but are still on a waiting list. "There are also those who want the vaccine but the stock is empty so they are still not allowed to study at school," he said.

He added that after this report he would check the school and the Education Office, and did not rule out the possibility of the superior of the Education Office, namely the Mayor of Padang.

Previously circulated the Padang Education Office Circular No. 421/46/Dikbud/Dikdas.03/2022 regarding the Implementation of Vaccination for Children Age 6 to 11 years for COVID-19 Prevention. In the second point of the circular, it is written for students who have not/not vaccinated to carry out learning independently at home accompanied by their parents.