AusAID Team Visit : The Second Day

On the second day the AusAID team agenda was visited schools and conducted dialogue with counterparts and stakeholders at sub district and cluster levels. The first school visited by the team was SD 1 Beureuneun at Mutiara Sub District. They could see that teachers in all classrooms implementing active, joyful and effective learning. Besides the classroom arrangement and student works displays, they could see how teachers encourage students to be actively participate in the learning activity.

At 8.45 am we moved to SD 1 Kota Bakti at Sakti Cluster. We will meet with teachers, supervisors, District Facilitators and also the Heads of Sub District Office.

Grant Morison was interested on the School Plan and Budget displayed at Public Information Board. He asked a lot of questions related with the spending of the BOS and other block grants provided by the government and ERA as well. Grant used to be a teacher and therefore he is interested with the reading corner and the books provided for the students.

The dialogue with the stakeholders was lively. All representatives from teachers, supervisors, district facilitators and the head of sub district offices; stated their experiences in implementing the cluster program and what is still needed in order to continue and or improve their performance.

Beside the achievements, they also stated contraints and obstacles in implementing the program. The lack of support from the school heads, the limited capacities in performing their role as district facilitators and or cluster resource persons, and different treatment given to primary schools and madrasahs; were the main issues.

Within the 2 hours dialogue, I believe that the AusAID team has gained a comprehensive information about the program and the further needs. Issue about the differentiation of treatment given to the primary schools and madrasah, is still has to be solved. Hopefully with the existence of Aceh Province Strategic Plan, this issue can be solved promptly. However, it should be considered that teachers and students at schools are the victims of the unequal treatment.

Just want to share my opinion about the good leader. I believe that "the good leader is the one who treated every party equally; focused and prioritized his/her mission for the sake of children; and never think and act primordially". It means that he/she should think and act beyond the different ethnic, geographycal area, or different istitutions. It is true that primary schools and madrasahs are under different department. But, do you ever think that the victims of the unfair treatment are the students ? Students at both schools, named Sekolah Dasar under the Education Office and Madrasah under the Religious Department. Students become the victims just because their teachers treated differently by their leaders. It's a pity indeed.

AusAID Team Visit to Pidie

Yesterday afternoon, a team consisted of Georgina Harley, Grant Morison, Mary Fearnley Sanders and Sofyan Gani arrived in Pidie. Georgina is representative of AusAID in Jakarta who is responsible for Education Program in Aceh. Grant Morison is representative of AIPRD in Canberra - Australia. Mary Fearnley Sanders is Director of Education Rehabilitation in Aceh (ERA) while Sofyan Gani is Advisor for ERA.

The team visit to Pidie is to collect information from counterparts and stakeholders about how the ERA program works and how AusAID can supports education development program in Aceh in general.

The first meeting was with counterpart at district level. Syamsudin, the Head of Education Office, accompanied by the head of office administration; the Head of Basic Education Sub Office; and representative of the Religious Department; warmly welcomed the team. For about two hours through a lively discussion, the AusAID team received many information about education issues and the support need to be provided by AusAID.

Syamsudin described that Pidie affected by a long conflict and also by Tsunami. There were hundreds of schools burned in 2000 - 2002. Library and books also burned at that time. In that abnormal situation, most of parents couldn't work normally and it affected their income. When Tsunami attacked Aceh, some shools along the coast destroyed. Hundreds of students and teachers died or lost.

Syamsudin explained that the most needed is support in improving the quality of education, particularly in primary school level. He assumed that education at primary school level is the most important, considering that it will colored children competencies and their readiness since the early stage. Quality education at primary level, will eliminate constraints and problems at the higher level of education. The first district strategic plan in education is to improve the quality of education. Pidie has achieved a tremendous achievement in compulsary education. The NER (Net Enrollment Ratio) for promary school is 100 per cent and for junior high school is around 97 %. For this achievement, the Central Government has awarded Pidie.

Syamsudin also mentioned that the cluster program implemented by ERA and supported by AusAID is the most success in Pidie. Based on the evidence of the success, only 4 months after ERA cluster program implemented, Pidie Government provided 17.5 million rupiahs per cluster for all of the 64 clusters in Pidie District. Education office adopted ERA approach and model in revitalise the cluster. In 2007 fiscal year, the legislative has approved and signed budget to support the clusters (Rp 25 million per cluster).

Pidie has shown its commitment to support the program. Pidie commitment is a reflection of their trust on the program. They believe that this program is relevant with the real and crucial needs. They are also happy because it is implemented with the inclsusion of counterparts and stakeholder through a negotiated structured which is based on the existing structure. This approach will ensure district and sub district preparedness in continuing the program. In other word, it will build local government capacity for program sustainability.

Both of Grant and Georgina were pleased with the lively discussion and frankly explanation provided by the counterparts from Education Office and the Religious Department. They were also happy that the cluster program implemented by ERA is not only relevant but also significant as well in improving school community performance. The results of follow up survey conducted in early February shown that the school performance is improved, which can be seen from the positive changes in teaching learning practice, the more transparent and participative school management, and also from the increasing of community contribution in supporting the schools program.

Collaboration with Local Broadcasting

Three representatives from Megaphone Radio, a local broadcasting in Pidie, came to the office two days ago. I was impressed with their professionalism. They were pleased with the idea of using local radio in improving community awareness on education and agreed with the proposed alternative forms of broadcasting will be used. Evenmore they also proposed different ideas on it.

The manager, Syaiful, is a good man. As a manager, he listened carefully the goal and purpose of the colaboration. Shortly, after a lively discussion, we agreed about the various alternative we will use. At least there are three program will be broadcasted by the radio.

First, talk show. At least once a week we will invite people from various institutions to talk about issues in education quality improvement. They can be The Head of Education Office, Representative from Education Board, or even teachers, supervisors, or parents. This program is purposed to build and develop community' awareness and understanding about issues in education. This is a prerequisite needed to build their commitment to support and willing to contribute in any education program in all levels. For example, through this program, people will gain a comprehensive information about BOS fund (Support for School Operational), the role of school commitee, how to actualize the concept of children right at school and how parent and community can contribute in school efforts, etc. The twelve District Facilitators and 24 Cluster Resource Persons will also become resource persons for this talk show.

The second is life broadcasting from the field. Because our program is purposed to revitalise the school cluster system, we will broadcast activities in the cluster and schools. The KKG (Teachers Working Group) meetings, the KKKS (School Principal Working Group) meetings, School Committee meetings and various activities conducted in the clusters will be broadcasted directly from the field. With this approach, information and experiences shared in the KKG and or KKKS meeting will disseminate to other clusters across Pidie District.

The third is Radio Bulletin. Actually this idea was from Marzuki, one of the radio broadcaster. Enthusiaticaly he described that through Radio Bulletin we can share information about activities will be conducted within the on-going week as a reminder for school and cluster communities; topics will be discussed in the talk show; and also accomodate people curiosity about many things related to the School Based Management, Joyful Learning and or Community Participation.

So far, I am happy with our initial meeting. I look forward to seeing their proposal. Hope they have common understanding and committed to actualize the ideas. It is obvious that Radio Broadcasting has a very important role in empowering people. Radio can become a strategic media in creating Community Learning for Children.

Collaborate with Megaphone Radio Station

In the previous program, we built teachers' capacity in creating and developing a newsletter. My original idea was to build teachers capacity in creating and developing a very simple Cluster Newsletter, so teachers can share their experiences and ideas to other teachers in the cluster. The newsletter should be developed locally and using applied and appropriate technology. Unfortunately, the communication expert did not have common understanding. The result was, although the cluster people could developed a newsletter, it seem that it is difficult to keep the sustainability. It was too high tech and too expensive as well, while there were a gap between the technology we used and their capacities in using advance technology. Even more, in primary school level, most of the schools do not have computer.

For the second phase of the program, I suggested ERA to collaborate with radio broadcaster. With this media, I am sure that we can disseminate much more information, experiences and lessons learnt; to a broader audiences. Not only for the school community at the 4 pilot clusters, but also to all people in the district. With this approach, hopefully the concepts, knowledge and expriences related with the revitalisation of the school cluster system, will improve people awareness and commitment to make changes for children education improvement in Aceh.

Tomorrow Zulkarnaen from Megaphone Radio in Pidie will discuss about the feasibility of creating special program for school community. Hope we can achieve common understanding and commitment.

Krishna

Keikhlasan Berbuah Keberhasilan

Hari ini saya mengunjungi SD 1 Kota Bakti. Salah satu sekolah dasar di Kabupaten Pidie yang merupakan binaan ERA (Education Rehabilitation in Aceh). Program ini didanai oleh AusAID dan bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas pendidikan dasar.

Sekolah ini terletak di kawasan yang dahulu merupakan daerah konflik. Tidak seperti layaknya sekolah lain, bangunan sekolah ini terletak di dua tapak (site) yang dibatasi oleh sungai kecil selebar sekitar 8 meter. Dulu sekolah ini memiliki 2 bangunan untuk rumah guru dan ruang kelas yang cukup untuk tempat belajar siswa dari 6 kelas. Sayangnya kedua bangunan untuk ruang guru itu sudah hancur total, tak lagi dapat digunakan. Terlihat juga 3 ruang yang rusak sehingga tak dapat digunakan untuk kegiatan belajar.


Saat ini SD 1 Kota Bakti hanya memiliki 6 ruang yang dapat digunakan untuk belajar dan kegiatan manajemen sekolah. Tiga ruang kelas berada (kelas 1 - 3) di sebelah timur sungai dan tiga ruang kelas lainnya (kelas 4 - 6) berada di sebelah barat sungai. Karena tidak memiliki ruang guru dan ruang kepala sekolah, maka untuk memberi ruang bagi kegiatan kepala sekolah dan para guru, separuh ruang belajar untuk kelas 6 juga digunakan sebagai ruang kepala sekolah dan guru.


Ketika langkah kaki memasuki tapak yang berada di sebelah timur sungai, ada kesedihan dan kegembiraan yang sekaligus terasa di dada. Sedih melihat bangunan yang sungguh tak lagi layak digunakan sebagai tempat belajar anak-anak kita. Perasaan gembira terasa karena di halaman rumput yang hijau dan bersih, terlihat anak-anak sedang melakukan kegiatan olahraga. Mereka bermain kasti dengan ceria. Siswa-siswi kelas 3 ini sedang bermain kasti, karena guru mereka sedang mengikuti kegiatan pelatihan di Sigli. Dua orang guru sedang melaksanakan kegiatan belajar di kelas 1 dan 2. Perasaan sedih dan gembira sekali lagi menyeruak. Sedih melihat ruang kelas yang plafondnya sudah rusak dan warna dindingnya pun tidak lagi putih. Gembira karena terlihat para siswa belajar dengan ceria. Kedua guru yang sedang mengajar mencoba menerapkan PAKEM (Pembelajaran Aktif, Kreatif, Efektf dan Menyenangkan). Dengan segala keterbatasn fasilitas yang ada, kedua guru itu tetap mencoba menjalankan tugasnya dengan sebaik-baiknya.


Melihat semangat dan tekad para guru yang berusaha melaksanakan tugasnya dengan sebaik-baiknya, saya yakin salah satunya adalah karena keikhlasan dan kepemimpinan Kepala Sekolah. Ibu Nurzaini, penghargaan dan terima kasih kami untuk ibu. Dengan kepemimpinan yang terbuka dan partisipatif, Insya Allah, orangtua siswa dan masyarakat di sekitar sekolah, akan bersama-sama membantu sekolah dalam meningkatkan kualitas layanan bagi anak-anak kita. Semoga kesehatan dan kemampuan senantiasa diberikan kepada ibu dan semua guru di SD 1 Kota Bakti.

My First Visitor

My first visitor to the new office was Zan Darusman. She came to the office this afternoon with her husband and Prof Minas. I knew Zan from Farida Flemming. Zan used to work with universities in Australia, particularly dealing with issues related with foreign students. Zan helped me in analyzing data from baseline survey, for my program in Pidie.

Prof Minas is a psychiatrist, Head of the International Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. He is in Pidie to help Zan' husband to develop a Community Based Mental Health Program. One of the issues with mental health is to identify them at the beginning/early stage and what better way to start from primary school level. Zan informed him about the worked I have done and issues on trauma with the teachers. They are interested in having dscussion to discuss the potential to involve the teachers in community based mental health in early detection in children.

I always interested in community based program. Particularly for Pidie, where the children affected by Tsunami and or conflict, the Community Based Mental Health is very crucial. The good thing of community based program is that it will empower people who are interact with children in daily activities. It will not only build the capacity of teachers who are interact with them everyday, but also with parents and community. This is very important because children mental health condition is colored by the family life or the neighborhood. The community based program will enable parents and community members to recognize and identify children mental health condition, and to know what to do or wher to go if they need help.

I understand that this program will involve at least two key stakeholders, they are Dinas Kesehatan (Health Office) and Dinas Pendidikan (Education Office)at district level. I am pretty sure that the two stakeholders will support this program and willing to cooperate.

This program is related with my program, the revitalisation of the school cluster system. In the cluster program, despite of teachers and supervisors, we also build capacity of parents and community so they can provide their best contribution to support children education and health. We have a dream that schools in Pidie can become a center of community education and health. We try to develop school as a healthy and enjoying environment for children. Although our journey is still long, at least we are doing something to reach that dream.

I really hope that the program can be developed and implemented promptly in Pidie. Pidie people are eager to make positive change, and they are committed to support and implement any program as long as they understand that it is relevant with their needs.

Good luck Prof Minas, hope we can work together to improve the children mental health in Pidie !

My New Office

Dear children, I just move to the new office which is my new house as well. The house is quite big. It has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. I use one of the room as my office.

Husni, Hamidah, ibu Sakdiah, Yeni and Muzakir helped in moving all of the stuffs.

Syifa has her own bedroom. She is very happy with that. Hope she can start to sleep in hers.

You can see the new office picture. Hope I can concentrate better in performing my responsibilities.

Love
Mum