Long weekend

Long weekend

From Berita Buana

In respect to the government's plan to introduce a five-day
working week as of August next year, with school hours being
adjusted to the new system, I would like to make the following
comments:

1. To date, many civil servants have second jobs. Some of them
go straight to their second jobs, while others go home first.
Because civil servants leave the office at 3:00 p.m., they still
have a few hours to moonlight. Under the new system, they will
have to stay at the office longer and consequently have less time
to earn extra rupiah. Parents will have difficulty meeting the
cost of their children's education.

2. Experience shows that a student can concentrate on lessons
for four to five hours continuously. After that, the student's
ability to concentrate on classroom work declines. If longer
hours are forced onto the students they will inevitably reach a
saturation point, which may ruin their health. Even healthy
students may fail to comply with projected longer hours of
learning, let alone the mentally and physically unfit. Besides,
the students will have very little time for extracurricular
activities such as sports, art, etc. What will happen to the
afternoon schools? Will they have to drag on until late at night?

In view of the above problems, the plan to change the working
day system needs reconsidering in order to save the younger
generation.

SETIADJI SLAMET RAHARDJO

Bekasi, West Java