Masks, Human Resources and Educatedness

KOMPAS/YOLA SASTRA

A resident who does not wear a mask undergoes social sanctions cleaning the park on the side of Jalan Khatib Sulaiman, Padang, West Sumatra, Monday (9/21/2020) morning.

As long as a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is not yet available, we can follow the 3Ms and 3Ts to protect ourselves from the virus.

The 3Ms are wearing masks, washing hands with soap and maintaining distance, which is complimented by the 3Ts: testing, tracing and treatment. After several months of awareness campaigns, according to this daily, the level of public compliance with wearing masks is less than 70 percent. We still see officers ticketing offenders for not wearing face masks. Some of them are treated politely, even given masks, some are told to do push-ups as a punishment and others are subject to fines.

From this face mask aspect, we can see how the various conditions of our social capacity are manifested in people\'s behavior. It is like from this face mask we see a wide spectrum. On one side, they do not understand or are ignorant and on the other extreme, people’s discipline is often accompanied with style, such as the face masks made with interesting designs, that are of high quality and are comfortable to wear because they have air circulation inlets. We can discuss at length the criteria for face masks that are safe and fit to wear to avoid COVID-19.

Also read: Transparency of Officials’ COVID-19 Status Needed

If the public compliance figure of 70 percent is reliable, of course this is good for curbing the spread of the virus. However, so far, we see day by day that positive cases are still tending to increase, nationally in the range of nearly 4,000 per day, even though various efforts have been made. We think there is still something wrong with our response.

Previously, we were concerned about the public’s lack of acceptance that wearing a face mask is a powerful way to stop COVID-19 transmission. We relate this to the low level of education of the average Indonesian person. In addition, there are also factors where people tend to underestimate the dangers of this disease and, also, there is people’s inherent disobedience to bureaucratic rules. The more concerning thing, of course, is that there has not been awareness that wearing a mask is a form of protecting ourselves and others in the midst of a pandemic.

Also read: Increase Hospital Capacity

Kompas/Priyombodo

Dedi wore a mask and face shield when cutting his customers\' hair in the Gandaria Utara area, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Monday (21/9/2020).

Under such circumstances, we would like to highlight the main program of President Joko Widodo\'s second administration, namely human resource development. The pandemic and people’s disobedience to wearing face masks show that the awareness of the Indonesian people has not yet reached the expected level. "Angel tuturane", a Javanese phrase that means "difficult to tell".

Also read: Racing Against Pandemic

Human resource programs must not be relaxed even though there is a pandemic because the vital solution to a pandemic, apart from vaccines, is public awareness and responsibility. It is difficult to expect the latter when people’s educatedness remains low. "Being educated" is not just about completing higher education or spending a long time in school, but more than that. It concerns people’s common sense and behavior in society.

Referring to Yudi Latif\'s column in this daily a few weeks ago, we underline that this nation’s level of educatedness still needs to be improved. We do not hesitate to say that we are scrambling to overcome the pandemic, among other challenges, because public education is inadequate. Hopefully, this can addressed soon.