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With no guidance, doubts loom over reopening of schools
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A member of the emergency alert team (Tagana) sprays disinfectant at an elementary school during a mitigation program to fight COVID-19 in Banda Aceh on Nov. 19. (AFP/epost-robot)
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arents have begun to weigh in on sending their children back to school next year after the government announced changes in school reopening policies last month, but the absence of procedural standards on top of accelerated transmission of COVID-19 has cast doubts.
A 49-year-old mother in South Tangerang, Banten, said the private elementary school her son was attending had been gathering parents' opinions on reopening the school, an idea she rejected. The businesswoman, who requested anonymity, said one of the conditions suggested by the school was for the parents to have their children PCR-tested once a month.
“The [PCR] test is not to keep our children safe [from transmission]. It's to know whether they've been infected [...] We're also talking about money to feed our families here, which is more important,” she said, arguing that the pandemic had affected families financially.
She said the school had so far failed to provide further information on how it would conduct classes under health protocols, such as in regard to seating arrangements, classroom attendance time and when a simulation of face-to-face learning would take place.
She also expressed doubt that the health care system and local administrations could anticipate a spike in children COVID-19 cases.
Another mother in South Jakarta, who also requested anonymity, said her daughter's private elementary school had asked parents to fill in information about family health and conditions of their neighborhood every two weeks since August. And since November, before the government announced changes in school reopening policies, they had offered small group classes of six students and teachers' home visits.
The 42-year-old consultant said she rejected these offers, given that the epidemic was still out of control amid increasing cases and positivity rates.
