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New West Java governor suspends Depok headmistress for school trip brouhaha
Instead of an out-of-province study tour, Dedi suggested the school could focus on local issues in Depok, such as the city's growing waste problem and its management, or explore the industrial systems in local factories.
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school trip illustration (Shutterstock/File)
O
n his first day as West Java's governor, Dedi Mulyadi shocked many by suspending the headmistress of SMA 6 Depok state high school for organizing a week-long field trip to East Java and Bali, despite an ongoing ban on study tours outside the province.
"Organizing a field trip outside the province clearly violates a circular issued by former acting governor Bey Machmudin. Moreover, it imposed a significant financial burden on parents, as the trip was quite costly," Dedi said on Friday, as quoted by Kompas.
Bey issued a circular banning schools from organizing out-of-province study trips in May of last year, following the tragic crash of a tour bus carrying students from SMK Lingga Kencana state vocational school in Depok.
The accident, which occurred in Subang, West Java, took place while the students were returning from a field trip to the province's capital Bandung. The crash claimed 11 lives, including nine students, and left 12 others severely injured.
In the circular, Bey also urged schools to ensure that buses have proper safety permits and to verify the safety of the planned route before proceeding with any study tour.
Governor Dedi said he had instructed the West Java secretary to conduct a financial audit of SMA 6 Depok to check for any irregularities, following its recent field trip violation.
"I will decide on the [final] sanction for the school's headmistress once the audit results are available,’ he said.
