Students express mixed feelings on Games holiday<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Students from several junior and senior high
\nschools in the city have given mixed reactions to the government
\nsponsored six-day holiday during the 19th SEA Games beginning
\nnext week.<\/p>\n
While some students filled their heads with plans for the
\nholiday, others worried about their upcoming exams.<\/p>\n
The Oct. 13 to Oct. 18 holiday is a week ahead of the normal
\nschool calendar schedule. The Games itself will run from Oct. 11
\nto Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
The idea for students to have a holiday during the SEA Games
\ncomes from the city's Ministry of Education and Culture office.<\/p>\n
The office spokesman, Hadis Hadianegara, said the students,
\naccompanied by teachers, were expected to attend events in
\nproximity of their school. Students have been urged to watch the
\nGames and support the Indonesian contingent.<\/p>\n
Hadis said the students would be required to give brief
\naccounts of the sports they saw, while the school headmasters had
\nbeen asked to make full reports on the students' mobilization
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
Hadis said the holiday would not burden or interrupt classes.<\/p>\n
Several students from the state-owned 120 junior high school
\non Jl. Kapuk Muara in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, said the
\nholiday would make it difficult to prepare for exams which were
\njust around the corner.<\/p>\n
Students were originally due to have exams next week and take
\ntheir holiday the week after. But due to the SEA Games, the exams
\nwill be held in the last week of this month.<\/p>\n
"I don't see this six-day holiday as the proper time to watch
\nthe Games. It doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the Games or
\nhave poor nationalism, but I think, as a student, at this moment
\nI have to put the exams as my first priority," a third year
\nstudent of SMP 120 junior high school, Mariam, told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
"I'd really love to see the Games, well who doesn't? But then,
\nI'll be exhausted and will rather jump into bed and go to sleep
\nthan read those textbooks," said Mariam who plans to watch her
\nfavorite event, gymnastics, on television.<\/p>\n
Realistic<\/p>\n
Guntur Firmansyah, a second year student at SMA 63 senior high
\nschool in Petukangan Selatan, South Jakarta, said he would
\nneither watch the Games nor study during the holidays.<\/p>\n
"I'm just being realistic here. A long holiday like that will
\nonly lead me to the cinema or friends' houses, not to my desk or
\nto the stadium," Guntur said.<\/p>\n
"It'll not work for me and many other boys out there. I mean,
\na holiday is a holiday. However, I do hope that I still can save
\nthe last hours to prepare for my examinations. I don't want to
\nfail," he said.<\/p>\n
Both Mariam and Guntur said their teachers had not insisted
\nthey watch the sports event. Mariam said her teachers only
\nsuggested students watch the Games if they wanted to.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, students of SMP 35 on Jl. Tarakan, Central Jakarta,
\nhave been assigned by their teachers to see the Games and compile
\nnewspaper clippings of the event.<\/p>\n
"My teacher said anything related to the Games will be
\nincluded in the upcoming examination," said second-grade student
\nAhmad.<\/p>\n
He said that students at his school had been encouraged to
\nrent buses with their teachers to attend the events.<\/p>\n
"My friends and I plan to see our favorite events like
\nfootball, indoor volleyball and above all else, beach volleyball.
\nWow, I can't wait to see that one," he said with a smile on his
\nface. (jun\/cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-express-mixed-feelings-on-games-holiday-1447893297",
"image": ""
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