Saturday-Sunday to be School Holidays

Jawa Pos, page 12

Ahead of the new school year, the government is re-launching plans for making school days from Monday to Friday.  So on Saturday and Sunday students could enjoy their holiday.

Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Muhadjir Effendy stated that currently there are already some regions that apply the Saturday and Sunday holiday system for primary, junior high and high school/ vocational high school or equivalent and later on will be expanded nationally. The plan has been submitted to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).  If it is agreed, it will apply starting the 2017-2018 academic year.

According to Muhadjir, the consequences of the five-day per week school system is the addition of study hours in school. If previously it was about six hours, later it will be at least eight hours. But, not all of the learning hours must be done in the classroom; they can be filled with explorations outside the classroom or school.

According to Muhadjir, the learning hours will be filled with character reinforcement material which is very important.  In addition, the adding of study hours in school can be a way to save children from poor playing environments or communities.  He also admitted that the additional study hours with the various activities in it would certainly require costs. Therefore, Muhadjir said that the BOS (school operational assistance) funds could possibly be insufficient. Thus, school committees can utilize public funds. It can be from students’ parents, alumni, or corporate social funds from companies around the school.