By: Lisa Pamungkas )*
Face-to-face Learning (PTM) on a limited basis is indeed something that is quite urgent to be implemented immediately. Therefore, compliance with the Health Protocol is a fixed price that must always be maintained.
The Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology revealed that limited face-to-face lectures would be different from the situation before the pandemic. Nadiem reminded that there are many things that students must obey in implementing strict health protocols while on campus.
The implementation of PTM is limited to following the arrangements written in the 4 Ministerial Decree regarding the guidelines for the implementation of Learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. The SKB lists things that must be done by all residents of the education unit while maximizing the implementation of limited PTM, especially health protocols such as washing hands with running water or hand sanitizer, maintaining distance, and applying cough/sneeze etiquette properly and correctly.
Now PTM has been implemented in schools, especially in schools located in the PPKM area level 1-3. Learning interactions, which during the COVID-19 pandemic only relied on PJJ or online learning, were back face-to-face.
This PTM is absolutely necessary given the potential for learning loss due to learning that is not optimal during the implementation of online learning. But it should also be emphasized that the PTM that has been running so far is not the same as normal learning.
PTM or offline learning during this pandemic is a limited PTM, where there are learning guidelines and also health protocols that must be carried out so that there are no Covid-19 transmission clusters in schools.
Quoting the Guidelines for Organizing Early Childhood Education Learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic Period from the Kemendikbudristek website, the guidelines for health protocols that run in schools that inform PTM are limited are as follows.
Before Learning
Facilities, infrastructure and the environment of the education unit need to be disinfected.
Ensure the availability of disinfectant liquid, hand soap, clean water at each hand washing facility with soap (CTPS) and hand sanitizer.
Ensure the availability of masks and/or see-through masks and their reserves.
Ensure that temperature measuring devices such as thermo guns can function properly.
Monitoring the health of education unit residents, body temperature and assessing the physical condition of anyone in the school environment, such as symptoms of cough, runny nose, sore throat and/or shortness of breath.
After learning
Disinfecting the facilities, infrastructure and environment of the education unit.
Check the availability of residual disinfectant, hand soap and hand sanitizer.
Check for remaining masks and/or spare see-through masks.
Make sure the thermogun can function properly.
Attach the results of daily education unit citizen health monitoring to the education office, provincial ministry of religion regional office and district/city ministry of religion office in accordance with their respective authorities.
It should be noted, Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, explained the strategy that will be carried out to prevent the Covid-19 cluster in schools that have conducted face-to-face learning (PTM). This was conveyed in a virtual press conference.
He said the government would change what was previously passive care finding surveillance into active case finding. Thus, the government will actively seek cases. Budi said that his party will determine at the district/city level how many schools carry out face-to-face learning, from which 10% will be taken for sampling, then from this 10% the allocation will be divided by sub-district.
The allocation by sub-district was made, because epidemiologists have said that transmission is more likely to occur between sub-districts. Therefore, the epidemiological area per sub-district must be closely monitored.
The government will then conduct PCR testing on a sample of 30 students and 3 educators and education personnel (PTK) per school. From the test, if it is found that positive cases in schools are below one percent, then face-to-face learning will continue normally for class members who are not exposed. The test will be performed on close contacts who prove positive.
The steps for implementing health protocols and testing are concrete steps to ensure that surveillance is carried out at the lowest level. And if it is proven that there is massive transmission, then only the school will be closed. Schools with good health protocols will continue to carry out face-to-face learning.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students