Introduction
Covid-19 is a new type of virus that has caught the attention of the
whole world. According to WHO (World Health Organization, 2020),
coronavirus is a large family of viruses that cause disease in humans
and animals. In humans, it usually causes respiratory infections, from
the common cold to serious illnesses such as Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). A new type
of Coronavirus that was discovered in humans since the outbreak occurred
in Wuhan China, in December 2019, was then named Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2), and caused Coronavirus
Disease-2019 or COVID-19 (Wax & Christian, 2020).
Covid-19 is no longer just an epidemic, which is a type of infectious
disease that spreads rapidly, but is already included in the pandemic
category, namely as an epidemic that occurs throughout the world, or in
a very large area, crosses international borders and affects a large
number of people (Kelly, 2011). This pandemic has a very serious and
massive impact in almost all aspects of life, including the education
aspect. According to UNESCO, nearly 90% of the world’s student
population, namely more than 1.5 billion students in 165 countries, have
experienced disruption in their learning experiences due to Covid-19
(Lopes & McKay, 2020). The learning process, which is usually carried
out with face-to-face interaction between teachers and students, must
undergo changes, namely being carried out online or distance learning.
In the midst of this global pandemic, we must not give up on the
situation. Learning activities must be carried out so that the quality
of education is maintained. The policy that is generally taken by the
government is online learning. To ensure this online learning takes
place, collaboration is needed between the telecommunications industry,
school networks at various levels, and the ministry of education
(UNESCO, 2020).
Indonesia, as one of the countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,
also has its own policies in managing the education system. The
government, through the Minister of Education and Culture of the
Republic of Indonesia, issued circular number 4 of 2020 concerning the
Implementation of Education in the Emergency Period of Coronavirus
Disease or Covid-19, which essentially implements online learning
activities (Astuti et al., 2020).
Since the initial issuance of this government policy, there have been
pros and cons, especially among academics and education practitioners
and parents of students. This problem occurs because Indonesia is
considered not ready for an online learning system. Starting from the
problem of the uneven internet network, the economic situation of the
poor who cannot afford internet quota, the difficulties of some
teachers, students and parents who have not mastered technology (Sari et
al., 2020).
Some of these obstacles create new problems, where there are those who
want face-to-face learning to resume immediately. For example, one
survey conducted by the KPAI Commissioner for Education, Retno Listyarti
stated that 80% of parent respondents refused to reopen schools amid
the Covid-19 pandemic. In contrast, 80% of students agreed that the
school would reopen. Meanwhile, 60% of teachers agree if the school is
reopened (Subhi, 2020). A study conducted in South Korea and several
other countries shows the same thing, namely that it still considers
traditional learning to be better than online learning (Chang et al.,
2020). On the other hand, research shows that many prefer online
education. It is even predicted that after the Covid-19 pandemic ends,
there are still many educational institutions that will continue
learning online (Daniel, 2020).
Regardless of the pro-contract, this government policy, the government
still decides that education must continue to run well (Sari et al.,
2020). Following up on this government policy, the school immediately
made policies based on the principles of school-based management (Fitri
Darnalita, 2014). The objectives of these policies are basically
directed at maintaining quality and even improving the quality of
education.
Quality is interpreted as customer satisfaction, as expressed by Josep
Juran (Anca Madar, 2020). Thus in any situation, education must be able
to provide the best service so that customers. The involvement of all
parties is certainly a determinant of the success of the school in order
to maintain good quality. In addition, in maintaining the quality of
education, it is necessary to pay attention to quality components,
including quality-oriented leadership, education and training, support
structures, communication, reward and recognition and measurement.
Joseph Juran theory, is related to three important components known as
the Juran Trilogy, which are related to quality planning, control and
quality improvement (Burhanudin et al., 2020). Any policy direction in
educational institutions actually has the aim of maintaining and
improving the quality of education. Therefore, the Juran Trilogy concept
can be used as an alternative technique for quality assurance.
Based on this explanation, this study aims to analyze and describe the
policies carried out by the principal in an effort to maintain and
improve the quality of education by starting from the Juran Trilogy. The
results of this study are expected to contribute to educational
institutions in creating good strategic management to maintain and
improve quality in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In facing the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indonesian government through the
Minister of Education and Culture issued a circular, the contents of
which are as follows: a). The teaching and learning process is carried
out from home through online / distance learning. This is carried out
with the aim of providing meaningful learning experiences for students;
b). Learning from home can be focused on life skills education,
including regarding the Covid-19 pandemic; c). Home learning activities
and assignments may vary between students, according to their respective
interests and conditions, including considering gaps in access /
learning facilities at home; d). Evidence or products of learning
activities from home are given qualitative and useful feedback from the
teacher, without being required to provide a quantitative score / value
(Mendikbud, 2020).
This government policy, which essentially requires the learning process
to continue online, raises its own problems. On the one hand, the
education process must continue, on the other hand, concerns about the
impact of Covid-19 cannot be underestimated. If learning is closed for a
long enough time, there will be a much bigger impact when compared to
the impacts that are technical in nature (Subhi, 2020).
Faced with this, this study tries to analyze the policies that have been
implemented by the education unit. Policy analysis is applied social
research that is systematically compiled to find out the substance of a
policy so that we can find out information about the problems answered
by the policy and problems that may arise due to the implementation of
the policy (Disas, 2017). Public policy refers to all government actions
consisting of economic policies to social policies, including policies
in the field of education and health as well as policies related to
people’s welfare (Dedi Robandi, 2020). Dunn tries to create a policy
analyst model as in Figure 1.