A student in Gowa, South Sulawesi, committed suicide. Previously, a student in Banten died after being abused by their parents because of difficulties studying at home.
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A student in Gowa, South Sulawesi, committed suicide. Previously, a student in Banten died after being abused by their parents because of difficulties studying at home.
Even though the causes of the two events could be multifactorial, it must be acknowledged that distance learning (PJJ) during the Covid-19 pandemic has placed psychological pressure on students, parents and teachers. Many people are still not ready for PJJ, even after seven months.
Teachers continue to learn and try to present interactive learning even though it is not as ideal as the face-to-face learning. A survey by the Education and Culture Ministry\'s Center for Policy Research on 8-15 August 2020 shows that an increasing number of teachers are doing this in line with an increase in the adoption of technology for learning.
PJJ guidelines for teachers and schools have been provided, as well as an emergency curriculum.
Since the beginning of PJJ, the Education and Culture Ministry has also emphasized that teachers and schools should not target curriculum completion, but provide meaningful learning experiences for students by focusing the teaching of life skills. PJJ guidelines for teachers and schools have been provided, as well as an emergency curriculum.
However, there are still teachers who simply move face-to-face learning methods to online learning and burden students with assignments. As a result, learning is not only ineffective, but puts psychological pressure on students, parents and even teachers.
The home school approach in the context of online learning is the responsibility of teachers, parents and the community, including the government. However, the effectiveness of this learning depends on the instructional skills of the teachers, in addition to access to digital technology and the internet.
The competence and creativity of teachers in designing lessons plays an important role and this has been a long discussion since before the pandemic. With an average teacher competency level of less than 70 – even the teacher competency test score in Jakarta in 2019 was only 54 – the creative power of all teachers cannot be relied on during PJJ.
However, it is not fair to blame this on the teachers. The low level of competence cannot be separated from the methods for teacher recruitment, which is not oriented toward quality (Kompas, 22/10/2020).
Research reports from the Research on Improving System of Education program show that teacher recruitment does not focus on selecting professional educators but more so the needs of state civil servants. It is understandable that education in the country still faces problems in terms of quality, and this pandemic has made this more evident.
With PJJ expected to continue for a long time, support for and the strengthening of teacher capacity must be even greater so that PJJ does not become a psychological burden for students, parents and teachers.