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