We continue to conduct patrols in the school environment
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta provincial government continues to monitor health protocols in schools during level 3 of the community activity restrictions (PPKM) amid the face-to-face learning (PTM) capacity in Jakarta being reduced, from 100 percent to 50 percent.

"We continue to conduct patrols in the school environment," Head of Jakarta's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) Arifin stated at the Jakarta City Hall, Wednesday.

During the surveillance patrol, Jakarta's Satpol PP deployed five officers to supervise each school.

Arifin noted that Jakarta's Satpol PP along with officers in the regional units will monitor the implementation of health protocols among students and teachers in the school environment.

He pointed out that several students continued to purchase snacks from kiosks outside the schools and created crowds that could transmit the COVID-19 virus.

"It was challenging for schools to observe the students' activity outside their premises where the condition was not safe for students. There were so many people with their masks off outside the school," Arifin remarked.

Currently, the supervision of students and kiosks traders outside school is still limited to educating them on maintaining distance and wearing masks, while health protocols implemented in schools were only body temperature checks for students and teachers.

To this end, the Jakarta Satpol PP will cooperate with the Educational Service to supervise the implementation of health protocols outside the school area.

"Health protocols inside the school area is the school's responsibility," he affirmed.

Starting February 4, 2022, the Jakarta provincial government had imposed the 50-percent PTM in accordance with Circular Letter Number 9 of 2022 on Discretion for the Implementation of the Joint Decree of the Four Ministers concerning Guidelines for the Implementation of Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period.

This decision is taken as a precautionary measure against likely transmission of COVID-19, especially the Omicron variant, in accordance with the Circular Letter (SE) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Number 2 of 2022.

Earlier, Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria noted that 10,429 schools in Jakarta had conducted limited offline schooling.

As many as 706 schools were temporarily closed due to exposure to COVID-19. However, some of these schools have reopened, he added.

"Some 348 schools are still closed out of the total of 706 schools," Patria stated.

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Translator: Dewa Ketut S W, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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