The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption in the world of education in almost all parts of the world, including Indonesia. Since March 2020, the Government has taken a policy to close schools in order to break the chain of transmission of the corona virus. Since then, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) has issued a number of policies so that teaching and learning activities can take place well even in the midst of a pandemic. One of them is the Guidelines for Organizing Learning from Home in an Emergency Period for the Spread of COVID-19 through the Circular of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education and Culture No. 15 of 2020 which contains principles, guidelines, methods, and responsibilities of each party regarding the implementation of Learning From Home (BDR) during the pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Culture has also made various efforts to support BDR, including the provision of internet quota subsidies, loosening regulations on the use of School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds, providing learning programs through TVRI and RRI, and issuing emergency curricula. However, the implementation of BDR policies varies and to some extent is not optimal.
Although it has been running for almost a year, the implementation of the BDR policy has encountered various obstacles. Starting from the limited accessibility of students to the internet, the limited capacity of teachers to teach remotely, to the capacity of parents to provide assistance during the implementation of BDR. On the other hand, studies on a global scale consistently show that learning from home, although equipped with various facilities, has very little impact on learning development (Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2021; Sabates, Carter & Stern, 2021; Kuhfield & Tarasawa, 2020). Therefore, the central government enforces a policy of reopening schools as stated in the Joint Decree (SKB) of 4 Ministers. The Ministerial Decree 4 explained the guidelines regarding the implementation of limited Face-to-face Learning (PTM), including, among others, class conditions and health protocols that must be applied, PTM time and group division, reporting mechanisms, and the responsibilities of each stakeholder.
The conditions and variations in policy implementation and potential learning gaps need to be understood by the policy makers at the national and regional levels so that policy adjustments that will be made by local governments continue to support fair learning opportunities for all students. Therefore, INOVASI, in collaboration with the SMERU Research Institute, conducted research that focused on the readiness and response of local governments regarding learning and implementation of central policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the adaptation of policies in the regions to the policies of the central government in the regions and their implementation in the 2020/2021 FY, as well as to examine the local government’s readiness to face the 2021/2022 FY. In addition, this study also aims to examine the efforts and responses of local governments to encourage equal access to learning for all students without exception.
(Full report only available in Bahasa Indonesia)