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Tue, 05 Oct 2021
The wait is finally over. Widiatmika Kindergarten/Early Childhood Education (PAUD) is now back fulfilled by the cheers of the kids and teachers who can feel each other presence, face to face, at school, something that has been missing for the past 1.5 years.
"The policy was approved by the Badung Education Office, on October 1," said Ni Made Budiadnyani, S.Pd., who is often called Budi, Head of PAUD Widiatmika, Monday (4/10/2021).
The government has decided to bring back face-to-face learning in many regions in Indonesia in line with the decline of Covid-19 cases over the past month. Badung, the district where the PAUD Widiatmika is, is no exception. Since last month, said Budi, all things needed to support the health protocols for face-to-face activity have been prepared at best to welcome the kids.
"The Widiatmika Foundation has been very supportive. Once every two weeks, we must have a meeting. The foundation always evaluates the learning process and the preparation," she said.
"Whatever needed for the implementation of PTM (face-to-face learning), they asked us to fulfill everything properly so that all services for the kids would go in the right way. They asked us like, if anything is required, please arrange through the principal," Budi continued.
PAUD Widiatmika has also conducted simulations for about a month, allowing kids to come to school twice a week. Every time they come to school, the kids can only spend an hour. The school has also asked parents' consent to allow their kids to go to school. The parents shared the same hope.
"We asked for cooperation from the parents. If the child has a cough, influenza, or fever, we won't allow them to school. We also made a kind of kids' travel history book. The parents are required to take notes every time the kids are away from home," said Budi.
"Therefore, we can know the child's travel history. For example, Andin went to Grandma's house. So, if she got sick, we knew where she was going. We ask the parents not to take their kids away from home too often if they are not urgent. And the parents seem to be very supportive," she said.
The excitement
Currently, also based on parents' approval, kids' activities at PAUD Widiatmika can take place every day, from Monday to Friday, every week. Kids can spend 1.5 hours at school. However, they are not allowed to play freely with their peers yet. Health protocols also must still be observed. In a class, there can only be five tables. Each child gets one table. Therefore, the priority of school activities revolves around six aspects of child development, such as morals, language, and arts. Budi said that the 1.5 hours kids spent at PAUD Widiatmika were only half of the time before the pandemic. Even so, this 1.5 hour time was considered valuable.
"We see that face-to-face learning is essential, especially for PAUD kids. No matter how advanced the technology is, no matter how often we do Zoom meetings, no matter how creative the tutorials of the teachers are, it's never optimal compared to when they can touch things or see the real objects," Budi explained.
"Although these kids are not allowed to play yet, we can give them fun learning media. For example, there is a cookie toy with chocolate to introduce the concept of numbers," she added.
This 1.5 hour time a day is not only celebrated by the kids and parents but also teachers. They have been longing for this moment for a very long time. Reunited with the kids and their joyful appearances is really meaningful.
"The teacher feelings? Extraordinary. More spirit? Exactly. From the beginning, when we were still learning online, we missed teaching the children. We said to each other, when can we see the kids again? We felt that we couldn't give the maximum to the kids by teaching them online," said Budi.
"The difference now is incredible. When we teach hands-on, involving feelings, gestures, and speech, it will profoundly impact kids. They will absorb the learning. The child learns by seeing, imitating, hearing directly. That way, teachers feel they can give the best to them," she added.
PAUD Widiatmika also ensures that teachers and all education personnel have received the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Moreover, it can be said that in the South Kuta District, all levels of teachers and staff at the Widiatmika Foundation have inspired teachers in other schools to want to be vaccinated.
