Yogyakarta schools asked to limit daily offline learning to 2.5 hours

Head of the Yogyakarta City Education, Youth, and Sports Service, Budhi Asrori, has asked schools to reduce the duration of face-to-face learning (PTM) to a maximum of 2.5 hours from three hours previously.

“The duration of face-to-face learning at schools in Yogyakarta may vary, but none of them is more than three hours per day,” Asrori said on Thursday.

However, the schools must comply with the regulation that limits PTM to a maximum of 2.5 hours per day, he added.

“The duration of face-to-face learning in schools is ranging from 1.5 hours, two hours, 2.5 hours, and some have three hours, depending on the condition of each school,” Asrori noted.

Besides setting the maximum duration for face-to-face learning in schools, students’ PTM schedules are also being arranged, he said.

“Students only come (to school) two or three days a week,” he emphasized.

He also assured that school supervisors are continuing to monitor schools holding face-to-face learning. So far, no school has violated the standard health protocols, he informed.

“During the two months of conducting face-to-face learning, all schools have continued to implement strict health protocols properly,” Asrori said.

Currently, several elementary schools, especially private schools, have begun limited face-to-face learning for students in grades 1–4, he said. Earlier, PTM in elementary schools was only allowed for grade 5 and 6 students, he added.

“The action is taken based on parents’ aspirations since online learning has been going on for quite a long time and COVID-19 cases in Yogyakarta are decreasing,” he said.

However, Asrori assured that the duration of PTM for students in grades 1–4 is limited to no more than 3 hours every day.

Earlier, Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan HB X had asked that face-to-face learning in schools be held for a maximum of 2.5 hours per day.

The policy was promulgated as an effort to reduce COVID-19 transmission after a series of COVID-19 cases emerged in schools in one of Yogyakarta’s districts.

Source: Antara News