ABSTRACT
The current school closures and social distancing in Indonesia due to the COVID-19pandemic has brought firsthand challenges for private schools. The regular learningsetting at school has to be transformed into online learning. This study aims to exploreparents and students’ perspective towards the required learning from home amid theCOVID-19 outbreak. Based on initial observation and preliminary designed onlinesurvey to 50 Primary School students in a private school in Jakarta, the researchcontinued with in-depth interviews to six parents and seven children to gainunderstanding about the insights, experiences, feelings and changes in attitudes andbehavior towards the impromptu online learning programs within the last threemonths. Results showed that the maximal exposure to the home environment and theminimal revelation to the environment outside home had given the external factors tobe more dominant during the online learning, and that regardless how sophisticatedthe online learning circumstances were, students tended to be fond of face-to-faceenvironment at school. Furthermore, changes in behavior due to the online learning,motives and their challenges are also discussed, as well as the perspective towardsonline learning environment compared to the regular school setting. Finally, theresearchers suggest that the Ministry of Education should establish a new (permanent)and inclusive curriculum related to the online learning occurrences.
Keywords: Online learning, Covid-19, primary school, behavior.