in a number of areas, the distance learning system is difficult to implement. Teachers often have to go around the villages to give lessons.
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MELATI MEWANGI / ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI / CORNELIUS H HERLAMBANG / DENTY PIAWAI NASTITIE
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DOKUMENTASI SMK NEGERI 2 YOGYAKARTA
A number of students of SMK Negeri 2 Yogyakarta came to the school to borrow tablets for online learning, in Yogyakarta, Monday (27/4/2020).
For people in urban areas, distance learning or online learning carried our amid the COVID-19 outbreak generally faces no problems because there is good internet connection and other facilities. However, in a number of areas, this distance learning system is difficult to implement. Teachers often have to go around the villages to give lessons.
For Dodi Riana (37), a teacher at Jayamekar State Elementary School, Bantaka Village, Muaracikadu village, Sindangbarang district, Cianjur regency, West Java, online learning is a new experience that is not easy. Some residents in the area, including the families of their students, are often trapped in poverty and many other social problems.
The school cannot implement the distance learning because some parents of the students do not have smartphones. After the school was closed, the teachers have to visit their students. "We (the teachers) have to walk about an hour to get to the village so students can learn," Dodi said when contacted on Wednesday.
On a normal day, we were quite overwhelmed. Now we have to travel long distances on foot.
Under normal circumstances, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, three teachers at the school, which is about 150 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, had to teach as many as 94 students. Each of them have to teach two classes at once. "On a normal day, we were quite overwhelmed. Now we have to travel long distances on foot," he said.
Together with Mulyana (35), another teacher, Dodi went to the village where students live. They first stopped by the school to pick up textbooks from grade 1 to grade 6.
The students at the school came from a number of villages, including Bantaka, Panyusupan, Ciheulang, and Cipait. The visits are evenly arranged so that they can visit all the students.
Monday and Tuesday is the agenda for visiting students\' homes in the village located farthest from the school, namely Kampung Pojok, Muaracikadu villages. The access road to the villages can only be passed by pedestrians. Dodi left the motorcycle in the next village and then proceeded to walk four to five kilometers to the villages.
Dodi and Mulyana distributed cloth masks to their students to wear during class. COVID-19 prevention efforts are still being carried out. Because they cannot face-to-face every day, students are given enough homework they have to do until week.
Going around the village
Saini (47), the teacher of first grade at SDN 1 Tegalkarang elementary school in Cirebon, West Java, experienced similar difficulties. Because the parents don’t have electronic gadgets, he has to go around the village to teach his 33 students. Using a motorcycle, he has to cross the rice fields to reach the houses of the students.
If there are students whose houses are close together, Saini chooses one of the houses as the meeting place for the students. But the number of the students has to be limited to five people as part of the COVID-19 prevention protocol. The students are also asked to wash their hands with soap. The teacher always wears a mask and keeps a distance of more than one meter from students.
Within a week, Saini conducts four visits, each for at least one hour. He often brings his own marker pen and whiteboard. "Children need to learn. If we don’t meet once week, the children who are still learning to read, may forget again what they have learned," said Saini, who has become a teacher for 17 years.
A second grader of Al Bayan Islamic elementary school takes their final exam online from home on Wednesday (29/4/2020) in Tangerang municipality, Banten. The final exam was conducted online because of the government’s Covid-19 social restriction policies, which has been extended to 1 June 2020.
Borrowing mobile phone
Some students in some areas also have difficulty following the online learning such as students at the SMK 1 vocational school in Cipeundeuy , Subang rgency, West Java. Most students at this school come from poor families, who don\'t have mobile phones, and can\'t afford to buy internet quota or live in mountains which don’t have internet connection.
According to the head of the SMK 1 Cipeundeuy, Deden Suryanto, about 560 children or 80 percent of the total 700 students can follow the distance learning. However, other 140 children cannot join the online learning because they don’t have smartphones. "They are mostly orphans. Even to get food, they can’t , moreover to buy a smartphone. When taking a school exam, they borrow a smartphone from a neighbor or friend, "he said.
The teachers have prepared digital learning modules and systems for students using the Webex, Google Classroom or Google Meet applications. However, many students in the mountains have difficulty to join the distance learning. "Let alone, opening an application, making a call is something difficult for some of them," said Deden.
To make it easier, they chose to use WhatsApp application in conducting online and face-to-face learning through video conferences. Students with poor internet connection at home are asked to come to a friend\'s house with a better internet connection. "A group of up to three people," Deden said.
Some students are the recipients of the Indonesia Smart Card holders and receive social assistance from the government as part of the COVID-19 relief program. Because buying staple food such as rice is more urgent for them, Deden is unable to force his students to buy mobile phones or internet data packages. For them, the distance learning with internet is a luxury.
