Given the current pandemic conditions that are starting to improve, Depok City in early 2022 will implement level 1 Restrictions on Community Activities (Pemberlakuan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat, PPKM). With the implementation of this PPKM, teaching and learning activities at the elementary school level in Depok will be conducted through the Face-to-Face Learning (FtFL) method, which of course requires the implementation of strict health protocols.
For this reason, the community service team of the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia (FPH UI) carried out efforts to strengthen health protocol facilities at Depok 2 State Elementary School (Sekolah Dasar Negeri, SDN). This activity was carried out to help schools welcome FtFL, which will soon be 100% implemented.
FPH UI assists the implementation of health protocols in schools by providing several health protocol facilities such as portable hand washing equipment, temperature checkers, oxymeters, disinfectants, disinfectant sprayers, hand sanitizers for each class, and health promotion media in the form of 5M posters posted in all classrooms.
“The re-enactment of FtFL is certainly a new hope in the student learning process, although at the same time we also have concerns about the increase in school cluster Covid-19 cases. Therefore, we from FPH UI want to contribute significantly in supporting FtFL in Depok City so that it can run safely and smoothly by providing complete health protocols for schools,” said Doni Hikmat Ramdhan, Ph.D as the head of the FPH UI Community Service team.
The same thing was conveyed by a member of the community service team, Retnowati. “As part of Depok City, FPH UI wants to make a real contribution by providing health promotion media that is friendly to children. It is hoped that with this health promotion media, children will be more aware to keep implementing health protocols during FtFL in the future,” he said.
Based on the Instruction of the Minister of Home Affairs No. 67 of 2021, schools are required to follow several arrangements related to FtFL. Among them are limiting student capacity (maximum 50% in a class), changing the schedule of each class, providing queue signs/restriction of sitting in several school facilities, and installing banners as a reminder of health protocols.
Specifically for parents, there is a prohibition on waiting for children at school, as well as reminding children to always maintain personal hygiene and health protocols, and informing the school if children are sick. Hopefully, the implementation of this community service activity can make teachers, students and parents feel safer and more comfortable in undergoing FtFL in 2022.
One of the teachers at SDN 2 Depok, Hemi Eka Novianti, S.Pd. said, “FtFL in schools is a breath of fresh air for teachers, students and parents who during the Covid-19 pandemic experienced many obstacles and difficulties from distance learning. But unlike school learning before the pandemic, FtFL must be well-conditioned according to strict health protocols for mutual safety and health.”
According to Hemi, not only the school but also students and parents who wait in the school environment must be disciplined in applying the 5M. “Schools as FtFL organizers are responsible for providing health protocol facilities, health screening of school residents, and good room disinfectants so that FtFL can take place without the constraints of Covid-19 transmission from the school cluster,” he said.
Hemi said that the health strengthening program provided by FPH UI is very helpful for schools in creating FtFL conditions that are conducive and safe for screening and FtFL activities. “With more temperature measuring devices, soap, disinfectants, hand washing stations as assistance from UI in schools, screening activities and health protocols are smoother, reducing queues and the risk of Covid-19 transmission in schools,” he said.
