Covid-19 Cases Surging; DPR Wants PTM Policy Reevaluated
Translator
Ririe Ranggasari
Editor
Petir Garda Bhwana
Rabu, 2 Februari 2022 11:55 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission X deputy, Abdul Fikri Faqih, asked the government to reevaluate the back-to-school policy resuming face-to-face learning, known here as PTM. He said that allowing classrooms to operate at 100-percent students' attendance must be reconsidered given the recent rise of Covid-19 cases.
Fikri emphasized that the policy must be evaluated together with local governments, as case spikes differ between provinces and regencies.
"Whether to keep [attendance] at 100 percent, 50 percent or none at all - if the conditions are not possible," said Fikri quoted from his written statement, Wednesday, February 2.
The PKS politician said the spread of the Omicron variant must be used as the basis of the 100-percent PTM evaluation, to prevent the school cluster from taking students and teachers as victims.
Fikri admitted that in-class learning is still the best method to teach children and build students' character. Furthermore, there are subjects and lessons that cannot be studied from home or virtually.
The Covid-19 Task Force announced 16,021 new cases on February 1, bringing Indonesia's total caseload to almost 4.37 million to date.
As of noon yesterday, there were 81,349 active cases in Indonesia.
Read: Covid-19 Cases from Bogor Schools Doubled in One Day
ARRIJAL RACHMAN
