Full-Day School Policy is not Annulled but Strengthened, Cabinet Secretary Says

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung responds to reporters’ questions after a Limited Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, on Tuesday (20/6)

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung has clarified the information regarding five-day school week or full-day school policy. According to him, the policy is not annulled but strengthened.

“Yesterday, there was a misunderstanding. Some people said the policy was annulled. In fact, it wasn’t annulled but strengthened,” Pramono told reporters after a Limited Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, on Tuesday (20/6).

Asked whether or not the policy will be strengthened with a Presidential Regulation, Pramono said that until now the Government has not reached a definite yet.

He also said that the instructions given by the President yesterday as conveyed by Minister of Education and Culture and Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) regarding the decision on the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture, whether it will be revised or postponed, was clear enough.

On that occasion, Pramono admitted that the full-day school means classes are compressed and the definition was already reported in principle by Minister of Education and Culture during a limited meeting in February 2017.

However, when the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture was issued, it prompted many pros and cons because many schools in the regions are not ready yet to implement it. Therefore, the President directly instructed Minister of Education and Culture to evaluate it, Pramono said.

Pramono added that if the policy must be implemented,- considering that the policy has a very wide range of influence to students-, it will be regulated under a stronger regulation.

For the next measures, Pramono instructed related parties to conduct an in-depth study and observe the policy so that it will not raise pros and cons when implemented. “Thus, it (the policy) can be accepted by all elements of society,” Pramono concluded. (DNA/FID/JAY/ES) (RA/EP/YM/Naster)