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Critics call on govt to suspend in-classroom learning
The coalition has received numerous reports from students and parents about health protocol violations at schools in the past month, including the lack of mandatory sanitation facilities and teachers not wearing masks during class.
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Trial run: Students of SD Kalisari 01 state elementary school in East Jakarta take their exam during a trial program for in-class learning on June 9. (JP/P.J. Leo)
C
ritics are calling on the government to suspend in-classroom learning nationwide to protect students and teachers from COVID-19, fearing that new virus clusters might emerge in schools.
A coalition of civil groups — which includes the Education and Teachers Association (P2G) and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) — sent their petition to four ministries on Monday, namely the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Health Ministry. The four are responsible for devising health guidelines for school reopening, which started at the end of August following a downward trend in COVID-19 cases, and to offset any loss of learning and school dropouts.
The coalition has received numerous reports from students and parents about health protocol violations at schools in the past month, including the lack of mandatory sanitation facilities and teachers not wearing masks during class.
Under the school reopening policy, parents have the final say on whether they will send their children back to school, even as the government and regional administrations insist on campus reopening. The coalition, however, found that some schools had forced parents to give their consent for in-classroom learning.
“The government has been neglecting its responsibility to ensure the safety of children and school workers,” Charlie Albajili from LBH Jakarta said, calling for a postponement of school reopening at least until all teachers and eligible children aged 12 and above were fully vaccinated.
Their demand came after an education ministry survey published late last month revealed that 1,300 virus clusters had been found in schools, with more than 7,300 teachers and 15,000 students infected. The survey did not detail the timeline of when the data was collected, disclosing only that the numbers were valid as of September.
This incited concerns among the public on the safety of in-person learning. An education ministry official later clarified that the data actually reflected the overall number of infections since the early days of the pandemic, from July 2020 to September this year.
