DISCUSSION TEXT (Full Day School iN Pekanbaru)

Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy’s controversial plan to extend school hours for elementary and high school students will have a positive impact on students – in terms of both academic achievement and personal development, parents have said.

Wiwik Lestari, a parent from Pekanbaru, said only expensive private schools offered full-day school at present and that Muhadjir’s idea would provide better education for children of low-income families, who could only afford to send their children to public schools.

 “Students from rich families can also afford to pay private teachers for extra lessons, while the poor can’t afford it,” said Wiwin, who is a mother of a fifth-grader and ninth-grader, both of whom attend public schools.

Meanwhile, Rozi Yanti from Pekanbaru, said that her daughter, who studied at a private junior high school in Pekanbaru, took more classes at her full-day school. She added that the program encouraged her daughter to spend more time on positive activities at school instead of hanging out with friends at malls.

Critics say many public schools are not yet ready to implement the plan and that it is only appropriate for schools in urban areas, particularly as Muhadjir has said that full-day school would encourage parents to send their students to school by themselves and pick them up on their way home from work.