TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, said the government had made preparations ahead of the school reopening in January 2021.

Muhadjir said President Joko "Jokowi Widodo" ordered the availability of kids face masks for the implementation of face-to-face learning.

“The president instructed yesterday that masks for children must be prepared,” said Muhadjir during a visit to Tempo HQ in Palmerah, Jakarta, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.

Muhadjir said that he has not yet seen many masks for children in the community as they often wear masks for adults that are too big for them.

Even though the education authority was in the hands of both central and regional governments, Muhadjir claimed he demanded the Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim not to fully hand over the matters to the local government.

“The central government must be present to make policies, such as regarding the possibility of COVID-19 cluster which must be determined immediately,” he added.

Muhadjir admitted that school reopening amid the pandemic posed risks. Yet the government, he added, mulled over the immeasurable and invisible impact of Indonesia's human resource development if schools remained shut.

The government and the public, he underlined, must be brave while remaining vigilant over COVID-19 transmission. “I assume that the level of collateral damage to the formation of the children’s personality as they do not go to school is very substantial,” Muhadjir Effendy said.

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BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI