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Surakarta councillors oppose full-day school
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) councillors in Surakarta, Central Java, have rejected a plan to keep students at school for eight hours a day, instead of five to six hours.
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Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy appears prior to his inauguration at the State Palace in Jakarta last year. (Kompas/-)
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ndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) councillors in Surakarta, Central Java, have rejected a plan to keep students at school for eight hours a day, instead of five to six hours.
PDI-P Surakarta chairman YF Sukasno said on Thursday said the policy would not work in some areas in the country, especially in rural areas where many students lived far from their schools.
“What time would these students reach home?” Sukasno said.
Sukasno argued that the policy would strip students of quality time with their families, from which they could learn family values.
“The time [allocated] for home and school should be proportional. If students study full time in school, when will they have the time for family education?” Sukasno said, adding that the policy was made for families in urban, not rural, areas.
(Read also: Parents, ‘madrasah’ teachers concerned about five-day school policy)
The PDI-P chapter in Surakarta, he said, would send a rejection letter to Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy.
The minister has said the new policy will be implemented in the upcoming 2017/2018 academic year.
Responding to the new policy, Surakarta Education Agency head Etty Retnowati said teachers should make school fun and interesting or the students would learn nothing but boredom. (ary)
