The government ensures that face-to-face learning or PTM in schools will continue to be carried out 100% even though the development of the health situation related to the new variant of Covid-19, Omicron, is increasing in Indonesia.
The reason for the continued implementation of face-to-face learning in schools even though the Omicron variant is hitting Indonesia is because there have been no extraordinary events in the spread of the new variant.
This was explained by the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves), Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in the PPKM evaluation press conference, Monday (24/1). He explained, “To this day, learning continues. If there are extraordinary things, a separate decision will be taken. So we have no plans to stop face-to-face, face-to-face schools.”
Medical professional organizations asked government to stop PTM
Related to this previously, as many as five medical professional organizations urged the government to review the 100% Face-to-face Learning (PTM) policy for the group of children aged less than 11 years. This is due to the increasing number of positive patients for the new Omicron variant in the DKI Jakarta area.
The five medical organizations are the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), the Indonesian Internal Medicine Specialist Association (PAPDI), the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI), the Indonesian Association of Anesthesiology, and Intensive Therapeutic Doctors (PERDATIN), and the Cardiovascular Specialist Doctors Association (PERDATIN). PERKI).
They sent application letters to four ministries, namely the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Religion, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The application was submitted based on several considerations, among others because children under 11 years old and under are still unable to comply 100% with health protocols, and vaccinations for children are not yet complete.
Chairman of the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association (PDPI) Agus Dwi Susanto, said, “Reports from several countries show that the proportion of children treated for COVID-19 infection with the omicron variant is higher than the previous variants, and local transmission of the omicron variant has been reported in Indonesia. there have even been cases of death from Omicron.”
PTM is still ongoing
However, Luhut still ensures that face-to-face learning in schools continues. He emphasized that every policy taken by the government had been carefully thought out. Handling of Omicron variant deployments must always be precise and scalable. Luhut ensured that the government always uses measured data to analyze pandemic conditions.
Luhut explained that data from various countries showed that this Omicron variant provided a low risk of treatment and mortality. However, the rate of transmission is high. This is what causes the daily cases of Omicron to increase drastically.
Moreover, the high speed of transmission has the potential to increase the number of hospitalizations in the near future, thus threatening the system of hospital care facilities.
