Recently I was invited to speak to teachers in Medan. Medan is the largest town in Sumatra, an island in Indonesia.
These teachers were from 3 private schools that cater to students with “special” needs. As these schools are private, non-profit schools, their teachers do not get the benefit of regular upgrading provided by the Indonesian Ministry of Education.
There are many such schools in Indonesia that provide a much needed service to students who are unable to enroll in government schools.
Goducate has already helped many such schools in different parts of Indonesia, and it is now looking into how it can help them to help themselves by sharing resources and helping each other.
Recently, I was invited by a friend to visit some private schools in the city of Pekan Baru in Sumatra, Indonesia. He had heard from a fellow Indonesian about how Goducate was helping the private schools in Batam and wanted me to do a “survey” of the school situation in his city of Pekan Baru.
Dr Choo with teachers at a new private school
I visited a couple of schools in the city and had the privilege to talk to the principals and teachers of these schools. I was impressed by the sincerity and desire of these dear men and ladies to do their best – in spite of a lack of on-going training and facilities in many of such private schools in Indonesia.
The situation in the elite private and government schools is fairly good by Asian standards. However, the situation in the private schools that cater to the poorer people is clearly inadequate. The gap between the haves and have-nots is large in Indonesia.
Indonesia is an emerging world economy. And Pekan Baru is a prosperous city blessed with oil from the ground and palm-oil for huge plantations. The city is impressive with nice buildings, shopping malls and new automobiles. The people are amazingly gracious and friendly. And the food is awesomely tasty and cholesterol laden!!
Teachers enjoying a treat
On my last night there, about 120 teachers from about 6 private schools were invited to a sumptuous dinner by my friend at a nice restaurant. It was his way to say “thank you” to these teachers who had labored hard to provide a good education to his cities’ poorer people.
I was privileged to encourage them and challenge them to grab every opportunity to upgrade their skills. The Q and A time was lively and could have gone on for hours, if not for the fact that the food was ready to be served!
From the response that night, it appears that Goducate might have to get ready to work on a regular basis with these dear men and women who help needy Indonesians help themselves.
I gathered we are going to Batam for our staff retreat as well as to visit a learning centre there. The first thing that struck my mind then is the last time I did volunteering work was closed to 20 years back. I was still studying in NTU, and every Saturday’s ritual back then was to visit and chat with the elderly living alone in one-room rented flats.
It was my first overseas volunteer trip, and honestly I’m clueless of what to expect. But as long as I go with an open mind and with the heart to spend time with the children, I think I can term it as a little personal achievement.
The day had finally arrived, we took a long and bumpy ride to the school. When I stepped into the hall, all the children were sitting orderly anticipating our arrival. We had a short introduction to the children by Mr Samuel Quek before we embarked on our games for the day. The games we have planned were Charade, Simon Says and Mr Wolf. These games are chosen to allow them the opportuinity to speak English and expand their vocabularies. We had great fun together and I could catch the delighted glimpses on their faces when they answered correctly, and collected small prizes during the Charade session. I was most impressed by the children’s alertness, understanding of the language and sharp reaction in the ‘Simon says” game. It was a challenge for us to determine the winner for the game as they are all highly intelligent people!
We ended our time with the children with phototaking, songs and distributing the rest of the prizes, stationaries, and goody bags to all of them before we waved goodbye.
Staff of Kindercampus with the children of BatamStaff of Kindercampus at the Goducate Learning Center in Batam
We headed to a student’s family near to the school right after the school’s visit. It was a simple zinc-roofed house which personally I felt that the living conditions could be further improved. The student had done very well academically and I do hope the groceries and cash donations from our school’s parents could be of a little help to them financially.
I’m glad I have embarked on this trip and yes, I’ll definitely wish I could visit them again next year! Education and literacy should be make available to all children regardless of the circumstances they are borned in. Kudos to centres set up by Goducate that provide after school care and learning opportunities for these children in Batam.
