TEACHERS IN JAKARTA, DEPOK, AND BOGOR DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO ENGAGE SCHOOL INSTITUTIONS IN THE PLASTIC SMART CITIES PROGRAM
On Thursday, May 6, 2021, WWF Indonesia Foundation held a focus group discussion (FGD) attended by representatives of elementary and junior high school teachers from Jakarta, Bogor, and Depok with the topic "Building a Strategy for Involving School Institutions in Plastic Smart Cities Program". Hosted by education expert, Bukik Setiawan, chairman and founder of Komunitas Guru Belajar, the discussion was filled with various opinions, observations, and ideas related to handling plastic waste pollution in school areas. The topic of discussion was further broken down into 3 subtopics, namely 1) student behavior and habits at school; 2) programs, policies, initiatives, and the role of school officials in supporting the reduction of plastic waste pollution; and 3) attractive media for campaign efforts.
From the topics discussed, teacher representatives assessed that students have actually been exposed to information related to plastic waste, but for the implementation of plastic waste restrictions, it is still somewhat inconsistent and school facilities have not supported plastic waste restrictions. Even so, some schools have implemented various efforts to limit and handle plastic waste, one of which is Sekolah Anak Indonesia (SAI) Sentul, which has started various activities involving students, one of which is Jumsih, or clean Friday, where students clean and sort waste in the school area. Another example is at SDN Tugu 3 Depok, which has started instructing all school officials and canteen vendors not to provide plastic packaging, so that all students are required to bring their own utensils when buying food or drinks in the canteen, followed by an increased understanding of plastic waste. For media campaign efforts, teachers gave opinions that the application of learning in KBM with full student participation, using social media that is attractively packaged, and using board game tools.
This focus group discussion activity is the first step in the involvement and implementation of the Plastic Smart Cities program in the school environment, so through this discussion, it is hoped that there will be further discussions to realize the program of limiting and handling plastic waste in the school environment.