Teachers working in remote areas of Indonesia are now visiting their students’ homes during the lockdown. The move comes after the adoption of online learning in the country, which has put students in remote areas at a disadvantage.
The spread of coronavirus in Indonesia led to a government directive to close all schools in the county. Schools needed to adopt a new mode of learning to ensure students continued with their education.
The adopted mode of learning across Indonesia was online learning. The move was welcomed by teachers and students, especially those in urban areas and had good connectivity to the internet. However, the process started to show cracks when implementation began.
Helping students in remote areas
Students in remote areas not only were they unable to access the internet in these areas, but also did not have resources such as laptops, that are required in order to access the learning materials.
Teachers in these remote areas are now finding creative ways to help their students continue with their education. In an interview, Rahima Malik, 29, a teacher at Folangkai public primary school on Alor island and Ridwan Sitorus, 30, a private Quran teacher in Toba Samosir regency, North Sumatra province described how life has changed for them.
Malik says she is now traveling to students’ homes and issuing homework to them. She says that her experience has been good and parents and local authorities have supported her endeavor during this lockdown period.
Although no coronavirus case has been recorded in her village, the government in the region has been very vigilant, asking all residents to stay indoors and not visit their neighbors for more than 5 minutes. She, however, indicated that she was being allowed to stay with these children for 30 minutes of lessons and leave them with homework.
Sitorus, who was born with one leg, also said that he travels to children’s homes to teach them about the Quran. He said the lockdown had made him lose his job at an NGO he was working for, however, his passion for teaching has not been deterred by the setback. He said he will continue delivering classes to his student’s home during the entire duration of the lockdown.
Featured image by Pixabay
