During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments have limited knowledge and capacity to implement the Belajar dari Rumah policy issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) (Alifia et al., 2020). Some schools translated the policy as school holidays, thus temporarily stopping learning activities. 

Findings from the early period of the Belajar dari Rumah implementation captured variations in how each district enacted a follow-up policy in response to the MoEC’s learning guidelines to suit their education system capacity. Therefore, there might be variations in students’ exclusion from learning opportunities throughout the school year and the learning loss gap among students. These variations need to be responded through different approaches to ensure the following school years can accommodate the learning loss experienced by students (Arsendy et al., 2020).

With the revised Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) of Four Ministers on Learning Guidelines during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Central Government allows a more nuanced implementation   of the school re-opening for the 2021/2022 school year. Depending on a districts’ decision, there might be a uniform reopening of schools across the district or a more progressive reopening. As the learning gap varied, it becomes imperative for policymakers at the national and regional levels to understand the variations in adjustments made by local governments to support an equitable learning opportunities for all students in the preceding school years.

This study will explore how local governments translate a national policy into local policies to support the 2020/2021 school year and prepare provinces/cities/districts for the upcoming school year.