JAKARTA, June 17 (NNN-ANTARA) – Students in Indonesia will get back to schools, located in low-risk areas, under tight health protocols, after the closure of education facilities for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indonesian Education Minister, Nadiem Makarim, said, senior high schools and junior high schools will be reopened gradually, starting next month, while elementary schools and kindergartens will resume schooling activities in Sept and Nov respectively, media reported.
Still, students, whose schools will reopen, must get permission from their parents, to study at the schools, Makarim remarked.
“We cannot force students whose parents do not allow them to get back to school for the sake of safety,” he said, citing that the students are allowed to study from their homes.
In addition, the permit from the provincial administration is also needed for the resumption of the schools’ teaching and learning activities.
Classrooms will be limited for a maximum of 18 students for elementary and secondary schools, and five students for kindergartens, under the physical distancing rules, according to him.
However, Makarim pointed out that should the virus transmissions occur in the location of the schools, the reopening policy would be lifted.
Indonesia gradually eased restrictions, applied during the pandemic, in a bid to bring life activities back to normal conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic killed 2,231 people across the country and infected 40,400 others, the government’s spokesman for Coronavirus-Related Matters, Achmad Yurianto, said on Tuesday.
