The Jakarta Post
The government's decision to allow children to return to classrooms for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, or from January to July next year, has raised questions about schools' readiness to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Dewi Julia, the mother of a 15-year-old high school student in Jakarta, criticized how the government had rushed the decision without prior briefing of school administrations, teachers and parents. Last week, the government gave the power to local administrations, school administrations and parents to decide whether their schools should reopen for in-classroom learning regardless of the risk level of COVID-19 infection in their region, including in high risk regions known as red zones. It is a major departure from the previous school reopening policy set out in June that allows only schools in regions with either low COVID-19 risk or n...