Prevention of Coronavirus, Universities Asked to Hold Online Lectures

Last updated on May 11th, 2021 at 09:09 am

The outbreak of coronavirus in Indonesia is increasingly widespread. Various efforts to anticipate by the government have been carried out. One of them, the Indonesian government encourages universities in areas affected by COVID-19 to temporarily stop face-to-face academic activities and conduct online lectures to prevent transmission of diseases caused by the new virus.

This was said by Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Anwar Makarim, in Jakarta, Sunday (15/3). According to him, that the safety and health of students and campus residents must be prioritized.

“We fully support the decision of university leaders in the region who are positively affected by COVID-19 to encourage lecture activities by online learning from home to avoid spreading the virus,” Nadiem said.

So far, the Directorate General of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education and Culture has called for universities to take immediate and measurable action to anticipate the spread of COVID-19 within the campus environment.

“Until now there are about 65 universities that set lecture policies from home addressing the spread of COVID-19 which has become an epidemic in our country. This list will continue to be updated with reports from PTN (state universities) or the Higher Education Service Institutions (LLDikti),” said Acting Director of Duty General of Higher Education Nizam.

Nizam explained, learning activities can be done through video conferencing, e-mail, messaging applications, and other information technology-based services. “The most important thing that must be stressed is that it is not a holiday but learning from home online, by e-learning, and so on,” he said.

It also supports universities to establish a special task force to prevent transmission of COVID-19 on campus.

“Campuses and academic community members are expected to be able to apply clean and healthy living behavior (PHBS) in accordance with the circular from the Minister of Education and Culture, and become ambassadors of PHBS in their respective environments,” Nizam said.

For this reason, Nizam conveyed to students, lecturers, and education personnel to look after themselves, not traveling much or gathering in places where disease transmission was possible.

“Graduation should also be avoided until the situation is well controlled. What must be avoided is the gathering of large numbers of people for a long time,” Nizam said.