Kharisma: The Story of a Underprivileged Student Behind Learning from Home

    On March 2, 2020, the government announced two cases of positive Covid-19 patients in Indonesia for the first time. However, University of Indonesia (UI) Epidemiologist Pandu Riono said the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as the cause of Covid-19 had entered Indonesia since early January. Until now, the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) still haunts, especially in Indonesia. Since the first cases were announced, the number of positive patients has continued and is increasing.

    The occurrence of direct contact with patients, causing a rapid spread, the lack of personal protective equipment, are other causes of the large number of victims who died. One of the policies that have a massive influence on various aspects of life is the limitation of physical interactions. It will give a significant impact on the economic aspect. The stagnation of the community's primary needs, causing the effect of many companies whose workers are laid off so that automatically unemployment occurs, with a high level of economic need but no producer, the state can't pay for all the needs of its many people like Indonesia.

    In the field of education, it has also been greatly affected, because to stop the spread of this corona all students and teachers are studying from home, which is suddenly done without any preparation. The unpreparedness of all elements in education is a big obstacle too. The change in teaching and learning from face to face to online  requires all elements' readiness, starting from the government, schools, teachers, students, and parents, and it is admitted. According to emergencies, the government loosens the education assessment system as long as learning can continue without being burdened with competency attainment.

    From this learning from the home system, there are complicated things that happen. Given that not all schools, teachers, students, and parents are ready to participate in online learning. Many tools must be prepared, such as smartphones, laptops, data packages, or pulses, so that we find many cases of children striking school, running away from home, to suicide due to not having a smartphone to attend lessons.

    Quoted from the kumparan.com page, a student named Kharisma is one of the students who face online learning challenges. This student of SMP Negeri 2 Minas, Siak, Riau, is having difficulty learning online during the coronavirus pandemic. With his father's income as a farmer, Kharisma cannot afford a smartphone to participate in teaching and learning activities.

    After his mother died, Kharisma lived with his father, Waruhu, on Jalan Banjar 11, Dusun Sarindo, Kampung Mandiangin, District Minas. Never mind buying a smartphone, let alone a laptop, the wooden house measuring 2 meters x 4 meters that Kharisma lives in doesn't even have electricity. However, these conditions did not make Kharisma broken. To keep up with the lessons, he had to go to a friend's house.

    The story and spirit of this Charisma were heard by the Siak Police Chief AKBP Doddy F Sanjaya. For Kharisma to learn better, Doddy took the initiative to give a smartphone to Kharisma. Like a miracle, Kharisma was very happy and touched by the help given. Now he can follow online learning. 

    In the future, the writer hopes that the world will recover from the coronavirus. The education system returns to normal so that conventional learning can be applied again. Given that many students in remote areas are still less able to implement online learning.