Three ministers, namely the Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, and Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas issued a Joint Decree (Surat Keputusan Bersama / SKB) regarding the use of uniforms and attributes in the school environment. In this SKB 3 Menteri stated that students, educators and education personnel in the school environment have the right to choose to wear uniforms and attributes without specific religious characteristics in accordance with statutory regulations. However, the Supreme Court canceled this Joint Decree because it was considered contrary to higher laws and regulations.

The existence of the SKB 3 Menteri also reaps pros and cons by the public and officials in Indonesia. On the pro side, they agree with the SKB 3 Ministers because they think that the SKB 3 Menteri can stop the discriminatory intolerance that has occurred so far in Indonesian schools. Meanwhile, those who are contra do not agree with the SKB 3 of the Menteri because they think this policy is against Islamic teachings which oblige wearing the veil for women Muslims.

If we look at the purpose of this policy, it is quite good because the SKB 3 Menteri can stop discrimination against certain religions. Because as we know, students, teachers and education personnel in public schools come from various ethnicities and different religions. So, it feels inappropriate for public schools to regulate the provisions on the use of uniforms based on a certain religion. However, it would be better if the SKB 3 Menteri policy was for non-Muslim students only.

What needs to be underlined in this policy is that the government gives freedom to all students in wearing school uniforms.This is what raises the cons to this policy. If the government just gives freedom to all students this will create new problems. As we know, the majority of the population in Indonesia is Muslim, so Muslim students are taught from an early age to cover up and wear a veil from school so that students are accustomed to continuing to wear the veil in accordance with Islamic teachings which require women to wear the veil.

If the government just gives freedom to students, this will make students think about wearing the uniform as they like. If there is only one Muslim student who takes off the hijab and wears tight clothes, this will definitely trigger other students to imitate this because we know that the age of the students is still very unstable and easy to be influenced by things around them. Of course this is very unethical if this happens.

 In addition, if the SKB 3 Menteri simply gives freedom to students in school uniforms, this is very likely to cause social inequality among students. At this time there are still a lot of social inequality in school, especially if students are given freedom just like that, there will be groups of 'the rich students' and the groups of 'the poor students'. If students wear the same uniform so that no one feels superior and using uniforms also train students to be more disciplined, especially in clothes.

Therefore, this SKB 3 Menteri still really needs to be reconsidered. So far, there is nothing wrong with wearing school uniforms, especially the use of the veil for Muslim students. With this uniformity will avoid the existence of social inequality. It would be better if the policy of the SKB 3 Menteri is focuses more on students who are not Muslim and the government should follow up and even impose strict sanctions for schools that force non-Muslim students to wear the veil instead of giving students freedom because this will actually be a boomerang in the future.

JAMBI – Jambi University re-implemented online learning activities at the end of January. The implementation of this online learning activity has drawn various views from Jambi University students. This online learning system is carried out as a way to prevent the spread of covid-19 in Jambi province. The opinions that have emerged include things such as the strengths and weaknesses that students feel while participating in this online lecture activity.  Some students still feel the effectiveness of this online learning, on the other hand there are still many students who have not felt the effectiveness of this policy.

One of the students of Jambi University, Faculty of Economics, taxation study program, Dila Adelia, said that the advantage she can feel during this online learning is that it can save costs for students such as transportation and housing costs because students can study at their homes without having to pay boarding house fees.

“Students can attend lectures wherever and whenever they are and can also save on transportation or housing costs, especially for students who live outside the city who live in a boarding house, then lecture time is also shorter than conventional lectures and takes a lot of time  at home with family.” she said.

In addition, there are many problems experienced by students while undergoing this system.  Obstacles felt by students such as Internet dependence, poor signals and lack of social interaction between students.  It is almost one year since online learning has been implemented, signals are the main problem faced by all students in Indonesia, especially for those who live far from big cities.  In this online learning, students also feel that the knowledge they get is not optimal as when studying face-to-face in the campus.

“The obstacle that is definitely felt by students is becoming very dependent on the internet because if it is difficult for signals it will hinder learning and we cannot attend lectures properly.  Then, there are also some courses that cannot be taught online such as practicum and in terms of social interaction it becomes more difficult and becomes accustomed to it alone.” She said.

“If it is a matter of knowledge, it may feel less in getting knowledge because sometimes it is constrained by signals so that the material that can be understood is from 100% maybe only 40% can be understood” she said.

With the pros and cons of this online learning, issues arise about the implementation of online learning that will continue even after this pandemic is over.  Regarding this, many students do not agree with this because the online learning system that has been implemented now is not fully effective and well implemented. “I don't really agree, because I think online learning are less effective ” said Dila, a Jambi university student in her interview.

It is not known how long online learning will be carried out, but with the many obstacles experienced by students, they hope that the Covid-19 pandemic will end quickly and offline or face-to-face learning will be implemented again soon.

Cr: Google

Merangin, Ciaobloggers.com – The latest trend of ornamental plants is now spreading in Indonesia, including in Jambi, especially Merangin.

In the midst of the current Corona pandemic, people seem to have a new hobby by collecting various types of plants such as Aglonema, Sri Rejeki, orchids, and currently the most popular plant is Calathea.

Calathea is an ornamental plant that comes from the rainforests of South America and it is becoming an ornamental plant that is gaining popularity among the community. Many people are attracted to Calathea because of the beauty of the variety of leaves and the colors on the leaves.

Recently, many flower lovers have been looking for Calathea, one of which is Mardesi, a resident of Btn Griya Bangko Asri Sei Ulak, Bangko City who collects Calathea in her house. The house that Mardesi lives in is decorated with dozens of pots filled with flowers, and makes her house more colorful. Since long time ago, this housewife has admitted that she loves and has a hobby of collecting flowers. From Aglonema, Bromelia, Sansevieria, cactus and currently her favorite flower is Calathea.

     

 

"At first, I became interested in Calathea when I visited my friend's house, my friend also has a hobby of collecting flowers, then I saw one of the flowers in her house turned out to be Calathea, apparently she has a lot of these plants, then I asked for a sprig of Calathea," she said.

The reason she chose Calathea because this plant has its own uniqueness. With a variety of leaf shapes and beautiful colors, it makes her decided to collect Calathea. In addition, Mardesi also revealed that maintaining Calathea does not require a lot of money and also does not need special care. So it is perfect for people who do not want to be difficult in taking care of plants.

      

 

"This Calathea has its own uniqueness, the color of the leaves is various and with different shapes. Calathea also does not need special care like Aglonema, we only need to provide planting media such as pots and soil to maintain this flower. You do not need to spend a lot of money, so it is suitable for “emak-emak” who do not want to spend a lot of money, hahaha, ” She said with a laugh.

So far, Mardesi also admitted that she did not pay anything to buy this flower, because when it was still not a trend, Calathea did not have many fans so people just gave it for free when someone asked for it. For several months hunting Calathea to the house of her friends who have the same hobby, Mardesi has been able to collect 10 types of Calathea at her house.

According to Mardesi, Calathea is no less beautiful than Aglonema. Calathea is perfect for lazy people. This is because Calathea only needs to be watered once a day. Calathea prices are also quite expensive for certain types. Prices range from Rp. 50,000 to hundreds or even millions of rupiah. Like one of the flower that is famous for its high price today, namely Janda Bolong.

Not only used as decoration, but if this plant is cultivated diligently, this plant can become money. Mardesi said that since the outbreak of "flower fever", a lot of people are competing to sell flowers, and even some people are willing to go into the forest just to look for ornamental plants. Not only that, some are willing to spend hundreds to millions of rupiah just to buy ornamental plants at this time.

"Yes, so far people have started doing business selling ornamental plants. When it was not yet a trend, people did not seem to care about ornamental plants and even these ornamental plants were not cared properly and were just thrown away by people. But, now people are even willing to buy flowers at high prices, " She said.

At the moment, Mardesi is focusing on caring for her flowers so they can reproduce properly. She plans that when the flowers start to grow, she will sell them. Until now, many people have asked whether her flowers can be sold, but her flowers still cannot be sold because she only has one pot of each type for now.