School's out -- but not all are happy going home
By Stevie Emilia
JAKARTA (JP): The loud ring of the bell that marked the end of school time on Wednesday had a different meaning for students. Most of them were entering a long vacation as many schools are closed during the fasting month of Ramadhan, which started on Thursday.
Nina greets the vacation with delight. Early on Wednesday, she and her friends had already planned what they would do on Thursday. They had packed some clothes and were rushing to change when the school day ended.
"I will spend the day hanging around in Pondok Indah Mall with my friends, eating or watching movies. We have holidays for a month so we can go to the mall again," the second-year student of SMU 6 senior high school in the Blok M area told The Jakarta Post.
She is aware, however, of her obligations during Ramadhan. Together with her close friends, she will perform Ramadhan's evening prayer tarawih -- highly recommended during the observance of the fasting month -- at the Al Azhar Grand Mosque in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
"So we still see each other while we are performing our duties," said Nina, who was already dressed in her "new uniform". Most shopping malls do not allow students in school uniform to enter.
Some students, however, are not excited by the long vacation.
"It's going to be a long and boring vacation. I can't take courses like my friends, my family is not rich," said Achmad, a student at SMU 35 senior high school in the Bendungan Hilir area in Central Jakarta.
After the bell rang at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, he still hung around at the school with some of his friends, reluctant to go home. He said he might spend the Ramadhan vacation at home with his family, helping his mother to look after his little sister while waiting to break the fast.
Under a new regulation announced on Dec. 3 and jointly signed by the Minister of National Education, Yahya Muhaimin, and Minister of Religious Affairs Tolchah Hasan, schools would be closed during Ramadhan to give children more time to learn spiritual and ethical lessons at home.
In all, most schools will be closed for 37 days and will resume activities a week after the Idul Fitri holiday, which comes at the end of the fasting month.
The regulation reversed a 1978 ruling under then president Soeharto who declared that schools should stay open during Ramadhan. It applies to all primary and secondary schools throughout the country. Private non-Muslim schools are given the freedom to adjust their schedule on the condition that they permit Muslim students to take time off.
The decision was not warmly greeted by all parents, many of whom said that students were better off spending the long days at school.
Inti N. Subagyo, mother of a second year student at Al Azhar Islamic senior high school in South Jakarta, shared her son's opinion about staying at home during the fasting month.
"My son does not like the thought of doing nothing at home. He told me that fasting will go unnoticed when you're busy doing something ... suddenly, it's time to break the fast," she told the Post.
Traveling was not a good way to spend the vacation either, she added, since it would not be fun without eating out.
She said Al Azhar would be closed from Dec. 8 until Dec. 12 but it would resume activities on Monday for the next two weeks. The school will be closed again a week before and after Idul Fitri. During the two weeks, the students will be given religious and ethical lessons with shorter learning hours.
"But Al Azhar students have plenty of activities they organize on their own, such as breaking the fast together with the school's foster children," Inti said.
While announcing the decision, the government also urged schools to organize religious activities for students to help them fill in their days. Private and non-Muslim schools can arrange their own schedule but must show flexibility toward Muslim students.
SMU 35's principal, Lam Nainggolan, admitted that earlier, the school's teachers were not too happy with the new ruling, fearing its 750 students would not catch up learning all the subjects in time for the coming school examinations.
"But after further evaluation, we found it posed no problems at all, since the holiday at the end of each school year will be cut short from four to two weeks. So the number of school days will not be much different," he said.
The school will organize a three-day course on Islam, better known as pesantren kilat, as wished by the students.
Head of the Catholic Education Board, Col. Louise Coldenhoss, told the Post earlier that Catholic schools would continue to hold classes during Ramadhan.
"We will give Muslim students a holiday, but our schools will stay open, and the teachers will continue with their jobs," she said, adding that the board would further discuss the ruling.
She added that even before the ruling, Catholic schools had always been flexible with their Muslim students, such as letting them go home earlier than the rest during the fasting month. "This arrangement remains," she said.
She noticed, however, the ruling appeared at odds with the wishes of some Muslim students and their parents, many of whom preferred their children to benefit from the teachers' supervision.
"For years I have had many Muslim students, and they prefer to come to school during the fasting month in order to pass the day."
The chairman of the Ricci Catholic School Foundation, Hubertus Kasan Hidayat, said his schools would abide by the board's decision.
Education observer and prominent Muslim scholar Arief Rachman appreciated the government's goodwill in issuing the new ruling since it would allow students to learn more about Islam.
"I don't want to say whether the decision is good or not, but I will say it means well," Arief told the Post.
He hoped Ramadhan's spirit and the new decision would boost religious awareness, bring closeness and unity among people, and importantly, enhance each family in terms of providing them more time to perform spiritual worship.
Arief, who is also the principal of Lab School in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, said that at his school, he preferred to do it in a democratic way, by directly asking his 800 students about their own preference, whether staying at school or at home.
"During Monday's (flag-raising) ceremony at the school, I asked them and it turned out that most of them wanted to stay at school."
The ruling would not bring too many changes to the school since it regularly organized extensive religious activities during Ramadhan.
Apart from religious teachings, including pesantren kilat, the school's third year students will continue to prepare for final exams from Monday to Friday but with shorter hours, from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The school is usually open five days a week from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Meanwhile, first and second year students are given homework that should be submitted on Mondays.