Ahead of the 2021 New Academic Year, Can Face-to-Face Learning Be Implemented During the Covid-19 Pandemic?

Since the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, announced the first case of an Indonesian citizen confirmed positive for Covid-19, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) under Terawan Agus Putranto issued guidelines for implementing Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB), set out in Ministry of Health Regulation Number 9 of 2020 and enforced gradually in several regions until finally almost all regions of Indonesia were covered. This affected several activities, which were hampered or even temporarily halted, one of which was face-to-face school activities. In such conditions, so that the teaching and learning process could still be carried out, distance learning became the right solution of choice.
As time went by, Covid-19 vaccines began to be discovered and mass-produced for distribution to several countries, including Indonesia. In the end, the government, through the Ministry of Education, began to plan limited face-to-face learning for the new school year in July 2021, after first completing vaccination of all educators. Regarding this plan, pros and cons have emerged because transmission of the Covid-19 virus is still continuing and some regions have a trend of continually rising cases. A survey conducted by the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) of 62,448 respondents from elementary school, junior high, senior high, vocational high school, special needs schools and Madrasah in 34 provinces found that 78 percent of students want to return to school and 57 percent have difficulty understanding some subject material and practicums that cannot be delivered online.
An educational institution that will carry out face-to-face learning must comply with the book  Guidelines for Organising Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic, designed and issued by the Minister of Education together with the Minister of Health, the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Minister of Home Affairs. Then, the things the school needs to prepare to start face-to-face learning are: sterilising facilities and infrastructure with disinfectant before and after learning, ensuring that there is enough disinfectant liquid, providing handwashing facilities with soap and hand sanitiser, providing a thermogun (body temperature checking device) and making sure it works well, providing masks, and monitoring the health of all school members and reporting the monitoring results to the Education Office, the Provincial Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the District/City Ministry of Religious Affairs according to their authority.
Then, the preparation that must be done by all school members is to apply health protocols from the start of the journey to school until returning home. 
When preparing to leave for school, students and teaching staff should make sure that their bodies are truly healthy, and this should be accompanied by a breakfast with balanced nutrition. Do not forget to wear a mask, and bring a spare mask, hand sanitiser, packed meal and personal belongings. Do not forget to keep your distance if using public transportation, with the safe distance recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) of around one to two metres. 
Before starting the teaching and learning process in class, students and teachers should already have had a health check and washed their hands with soap and then rinsed them with running water. All school members must keep wearing masks properly while in the school environment. Avoid borrowing and lending personal belongings and keep your distance from one another. 
After school activities end, unless in an urgent situation, it is best to go straight home. Change clothes immediately and disinfect the items worn outside the house. Wash your hands and face, or better still take a bath, before having contact with family members at home. 
Alongside the role of educational units and related stakeholders, parents also have an important role in preparing their children to resume face-to-face schooling. If parents feel worried about the implementation of face-to-face learning, they have the right to choose to continue learning online or offline. This concern is also in line with a statement by KPAI Commissioner Retno Listyarti, who said that children's health and safety remain the top priority in face-to-face learning. The Indonesian Paediatric Society (IDAI) has offered a solution if school is held offline, namely periodic swab tests for all school members. 
The implementation of learning in the new 2021 academic year will give greater priority to the health and safety of all students and all members of the school organisation. Therefore, schools need to be ready so that they can meet the standards for implementing face-to-face learning. Getting used to applying health protocols must be done by every school member. Parents should also always support their children in meeting their needs. In this way it will be easier for them to adapt to the new situation.