Governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan has assured that students who have not been vaccinated can still attend face-to-face learning (PTM) that will start next Monday.

Students should not be burdened with vaccine obligations because they only have an interest in studying at school, he added.

“Children have no obligation to be vaccinated. Why? Because the matter of being vaccinated or not is never the child’s business as it is the decision of their parents,” the governor stressed while attending the first stone-laying of the At Tabayyun Mosque, Meruya sub-district, here on Friday.

If the provincial government does not allow unvaccinated school students for PTM, the students would be twice-distressed as they will not be able to attend school or get vaccinated, he emphasized. “If they are not able to go to school because their parents forbade them to get the vaccine, the students would be overburdened: once from the disallowance to vaccinate and secondly from being barred from school,” he said.

Although he said he has allowed unvaccinated students to join face-to-face learning, he hopes that their parents would still encourage them to get vaccinated.

The majority of students in all areas of Jakarta have been vaccinated, he noted. One of the majority areas is West Jakarta, he said.

Meanwhile, Education and Educational Workers Head Section of West Jakarta II, Masduki, said that the vaccination target is considered possible because currently, 91 percent of students in the area have been inoculated. “Our target is 95 percent of the 77,158 students. Currently, it is already 91 percent, so there are only a few more students (to be inoculated),” he said earlier.

Currently, the number of vaccinated students has only increased from five to seven people, he said adding, this is because the majority of students have been vaccinated since early July and August this year.

If all students are vaccinated, their immunity will improve, so it will be feasible for them to physically attend school, he added.

Source: Antara News