A series of activities were carried out during the campaign, including writing articles for the mass media and hosting a radio talk show. The campaign was capped with a national webinar held on 11 February 2021. The webinar, entitled “Mitigating Learning Loss Due to Prolonged Distance Learning in order to Prevent Economic and Social Losses in the Future,” was attended by 1,469 participants from all over Indonesia. Of the total number of webinar registrants, 69 percent were teachers, 19 percent were university lecturers, 2 percent constituted regional policy makers, and the remaining 17 percent were parents, students, education activists, and community activists.
The webinar featured resource person Michelle Kaffenberger, a researcher from the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) International and academic at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, England. The other speakers were Evy Rachmawati, Humanities Editor of Kompas Daily; Erwin Dariyanto, Managing Editor of Detik online news; Dr. Jero Budi Darmayasa, S.Pd., M.Pd.Si., an academic at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Borneo Tarakan, or FKIP UBT); Fahrindha Aryanti, a teacher at SD IT Hidayatullah integrated Islamic elementary school in Malinau; Puji Lestari, a teacher at SDN TU 2 integrated state elementary school in Tana Tidung; and Warsiyah, Principal of SDN 013 Bulu Perindu state elementary school in Bulungan.
Meanwhile, H. Jamaluddin Saleh, S.Pd., Head of the Bulungan District Education and Culture Office; Drs. Tajudin Tuwo, M.Sc., Head of the Tarakan City Education and Culture Office; Fureng Elisa Mou, S.E., M.Sc., Head of the Malinau District Education Office; and Jafar Sidik, S.E., Head of the Tana Tidung District Education Office, attended to respond to the resource persons.
The webinar concluded that the gap in learning access, inequality in infrastructure, and differences in the teachers’ pedagogical skills during the implementation of distance learning are some of the factors that have caused learning loss.
Kaffenberger said that the closing of schools, which has lasted over ten months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused a massive decline in students’ learning abilities. She also stressed that even if the schools reopen, the decline of learning ability crisis will not be solved unless a policy to restore learning abilities is first instated.