New School Induction Program: Workshop Stories
The following stories have been written by New School Induction Facilitators.
Each week the Lead Facilitator at the New School Induction Workshop includes
an interesting story from the workshop as an integral part of the Workshop
Report.
Story 1
After reviewing the results of Pre Test at the workshop we saw that one of the
participants, a principal, had a very low score (30%). We decided to find out why
he had such a low score. It turned out that he had trouble reading since he had
problems with his eyesight. The workshop facilitators decided to work closely
together with him to make sure that he had a good learning experience. With all
of his limitations with his poor sight, he was still very active in all sessions in the
class. We also saw how he helped support his colleagues from the same school in
working on a range of tasks. He said to us, “I want to be a principal who is able to
implement distributive leadership at my school, since this leadership makes it
easy for me to share leadership roles in my school and to get the best results for
students”. We were very satisfied with the principal’s results on the Post Test as
he doubled his original score to achieve a score of 60%.
(NSIP1-35: The Principal was Zem Tafoki, Principal of SMPN 6 Kupang Tengah)
Story 2
Ibu Beth is a Biology teacher at SMP 7 Kupang Timur but actually attended the
NSIP workshop in her role as the School Treasurer. Her village is 40 kilometres
out of Kupang and about eight kilometres of the main road. Access to the village
is along a very poor, rough road. She explained how the building of the new
school has had such an impact on her village in terms of education. Ibu Beth is
the eldest of nine children. Her father Pak Markus also attended the workshop in
his capacity as a School Committee representative. He works as a rice farmer and
his wife does traditional weaving. Pak Markus was involved as a committee
member during construction of the new SMP. Ibu Beth explained that after
completing elementary school that she and her siblings had all continued on to
SMP. To attend the nearest SMP they walked up to two hours each way through
the jungle. She said that they always walked barefoot and carried their school
shoes in a plastic bag, as they had to cross streams. When it rained they would
put their school books into another plastic bag to protect them and they would
use the broad leaves of the sago palm as natural umbrellas. All of her family has
continued to further education after finishing high school, with careers in
teaching, English language training and the army while one brother is a Minister
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in the local church. Ibu Beth feels lucky that her parents encouraged them to
walk to school each day even though it was very tiring as so many other children
in the village never continued to High School. Now she is so grateful that they
have the new school as it means that so many more families will educate their
children further. She is committed to helping this school progress as she works
as a teacher in her community’s new SMP.
(NSIP1-38: Ibu Beth is a Biology Teacher and School Treasurer at SMP 7 Kupang)
Story 3
During the social inclusion session on Tuesday night, one of the school
committee members Pak Edward, said that despite the fact that he is a
committee member of SMPN Satap Pongko in Mamasa, he still does not fully
know the duties of a school committee. As a facilitator, I was curious and I
wanted to know more about Pak Edward, who is 75 years old, and
enthusiastically attended this workshop as the School Committee representative.
Although he had problems reading the materials, he attended every session and
participated in every aspect of group work. He did that because he wanted to
learn about the duties of being part of a school committee, and how he should
interact so that he can perform his duties well. Pak Edward has devoted his life
to education since 1957. He graduated from SGB (an elementary teacher training
school) in 1957. He taught at SR (now SD) in the same year. He then taught SD
for 17 years before becoming an elementary school supervisor in the sub-district
for 15 years. Because of his achievement, he was appointed the Head of the
Technical Services Unit in Pana sub-district and spent 10 years there. He asked
for an early retirement in 1999 to become the Village Head in Prabatimo. During
his 8-year term as the Village Head, he was fully committed to education
development in his village. Now at 75 years of age he works as a cooperative
chairman, farmer group chairman, and Regional Representative Council
chairman. With his experience in education and organization, Pak Edward was
appointed as the School Committee chairman at SMPN Satap Pongko. He is happy
to be the chairman because he wants to devote his life to the community by
taking part in the education development of his village. He hopes that life will be
much better in his village with education.
(NSIP1-32: Pak Edward is a School Committee member of SMPN Satap Pongko)
Story 4
At the New School Induction Workshops each school team has one
representative of their School Committee. During the social inclusion session on
Tuesday evenings at the New School Induction Workshops, members of the
school committee become a very important part of this session, which is
conducted as a simulation activity. Before taking part in the whole activity, they
are thoroughly briefed by one of the facilitators. The facilitator explains that the
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school committee members will host a special School Committee Meeting and
invite other school members as “experts” on social inclusion issues to suggest
solutions to issues that are relevant to their school. Knowing this, the
participants who were members of the school committees at the Kendari
workshop were very impressed as they were being asked to hold this meeting.
because, the reality is, a school committee is rarely involved in the education
process of the school. They said afterwards that the social inclusion session had
a profound impact on them. They felt that they were empowered when they
found out that they could invite the school to discuss many things in relation to
the improvement of education quality at their school and in particular how the
community could support social inclusion. During this social inclusion session,
the school committee felt their roles in issues such as social inclusion were
appreciated as they finally realized that they could work together with the
school, as a solid team, being involved fully in the education process at their
schools in order to improve education quality.
(NSIP1-31: The story was told by Pak Mambi, School Committee, SMPN SATAP
Landawe, Kab. Konawe Utara)
Story 5
One of the schools invited to take part in the NSIP 1-31 workshop was SMP Satu
Atap from the small island of Tasipi, off the coast of South East Sulawesi. The
school was unique as it was built on a waterfront around 80 meters off shore on
stilts into the water. The building was built with timber poles in the sea. The local
community strongly supported the building of this school and appreciated that
the school was built through funding from the Australian Government. It is a
school that has been longingly awaited by the local people of Tasipi Island. By
having this SATAP, the children on the island have an opportunity to attend a
good school, as they had to previously go to another island by boat, an ocean trip
of 25 minutes, in order to attend a Junior High School. Seeing how enthusiastic
their students are and the support that is coming from their parents, the school
feels the need to improve its competence as much as possible as a way to provide
great education for its students. By taking part in this workshop, participants felt
so lucky as they had an opportunity to learn about how to create a more
interesting and fun learning atmosphere. They had not expected prior to coming
to the workshop that the learning process at this workshop would be so active
and interesting. They said that the methodology for learning used in this
workshop could be used as a model to be applied at their own school. They also
said that through this workshop, that they learned to think creatively in order to
create learning models for all students.
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(NSIP1: 31: The story was told by Pak Jamudin, Supervisor of SMPN SATAP Pulau
Tasipi, Kab. Muna.)
Story 6
One school told us how the disaster Preparedness session on Thursday evening
was particularly useful for their school. The new SMP 40 SATAP in Langkeang is
the pride of the people of Mattiro Deceng village, Lau sub-district, Maros. SMP 40
SATAP reminds the people of their great past. In the past, there lived in
Langkeang a religious leader ( Awwali in the traditional Bugis language) who
was very charismatic and well loved by the community. This leader, Puang
Shamsuddin, made Langkeang an "education center" with his knowledge. The
school community of SMP 40 SATAP in Langkeang has therefore a strong
commitment to restore the glory that once existed in Langkeang. This
commitment was well demonstrated by the school’s principal, Pak Saeni during
rainy season. This area is very prone to flooding. The water level can quickly
reach 100 cm with a very strong current. In these circumstances, teachers and
students would of course normally think about their safety rather than be
thinking about the learning process. Once during a flood, that occurred out of
school hours, Pak Saeni got the news from a person living near the school that
there were sparks from electrical wires on one side of the school. This person did
not know what to do and so he did not dare to do anything. Ignoring his own
safety, by wading through the flood, Pak Saeni decided to walk to the school. He
did not want anything to happen to the school that had become his pride and the
pride of the village people. To go through the flood, he had to take off his trousers
and he carried them with him so as not to get wet. Unfortunately, he slipped and
his favorite trousers were carried away by the flood. Arriving at the school, he
saw a spark in the electrical wiring in one corner of the school just as the person
had told him. He immediately disconnected the power supply to avoid fire and
the new school was saved. By attending this workshop, Pak Saeni was very
pleased to gain more knowledge about disaster preparedness. He will share this
new knowledge with his school community and also with all people living in the
neighboring areas. With the knowledge he has gained at the NSIP workshop, he
hopes that the school community and people living in the neighboring areas are
well prepared to face the floods that constantly occur. At least, they can learn to
cut off the power when they see sparks on the wires at school or at their own
homes.
(NSIP1-25 Pak Saeni is the Principal at SMP 40 SATAP in Langkeang)
Story 7
Participants from SMP 51 SATAP Kerinci were unable to come to the workshop
location in Jambi at the scheduled time. When the admin tried to contact them,
they discovered that the participants were delayed by a landslide due to heavy
rain. The school is 13 hours away from the district’s capital city, Kerinci, and thus
traveling such a long distance proved tiring. Because of the landslide, they could
not immediately continue their trip to Jambi (the city where the workshop was
conducted) since the car taking them could not pass through where the landslide
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had occurred. They had to spend the night in Kerinci. The next day, they left for
Jambi and arrived at the hotel just before midnight. Arriving at the hotel, the
participants felt very tired, but when we asked them why they still remained so
very excited, they said that they no longer felt tired knowing that they received
such a warm welcome from the facilitators and the admin. The participants from
that school participated actively in the learning process during the workshop.
This is a lesson for all of us as facilitators on duty in any workshop that we
should always warmly welcome the participants, by properly greeting them at
the front door to ensure that they feel very much part of the workshop.
(NSIP1-23: SMP 51 SATAP Kerinci is in Sumatra)
Story 8
One of the members of our team of facilitators, Pak Agus Wasisto from LPMP,
was still in the training phase of becoming a facilitator at our workshop in
keeping with the NSIP Enhanced Capacity Model of Training. It is inherent in this
model that all new facilitators have the opportunity to experience a full
workshop before actually delivering any material themselves. Pak Agus had
previously been involved in the PALDIKDAS workshop organized by SSQ. He
stated that it was very exciting to join the New School Induction Program as a
facilitator and be part of the facilitator team in this workshop. He found the
workshop to be very systematic, dynamic and fun to deliver. He believed that the
workshop was so exciting because of its thorough preparation and planning and
because it was supported by a solid facilitator team and admin team who worked
well with each other. Pak Agus said he will certainly be ready and willing when
asked to participate in the next School Induction Program workshop.
(NSIP1- 23: The Facilitator-in-Training was Pak Agus Wasisto, faclitator, LPMP
Yogyakarta)
Story 9
On the first evening session of the New School Induction Workshops there is
always a school networking forum session where participants describe their
school by creating a poster. These sessions frequently reveal the high motivation
of students to learn at their new schools. SMP 8 Kayan Hulu, in Kalimantan, is
one hour away from the nearest village by foot. Every morning the students and
their teachers have to walk more than one hour, passing through woods and
footpaths, because there is no accessible road and thus no motorized vehicles
can pass. In spite of such hard circumstances, teachers and students keep going
to school and the teaching and learning process is business as usual. They are
very happy with their new school, which is considered to be a luxurious building
in their village. Similarly SMP 8 Kayan Hilir faces the same circumstances. Due to
the lack of road access, they have to walk more than one hour to get to school.
Because some of the students have to walk for four hours to get to school, the
school provides lodgings for these students to stay at school in order to avoid
fatigue. During their presentations they were grateful and expressed their
gratitude to the Australian government for showing concern for education in
their village by building new schools. One way they felt that they could show
their gratitude was to replant trees around their school environment to replace
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the felled trees that were once grown on their school grounds. They intend to
preserve nature in their area. With the reforestation, they believe that they will
also prevent flooding and keep their village green.
(NSIP1-22: SMP 8 Kayan Hulu and SMP 8 Kayan Hilir are in Kalimantan)
Story 10
Pak Ali Rohali from Jambi who is a school Supervisor of SMP 6 Ketungau Hilir
said that he had learned so many things after completing this New School
Induction workshop. He said that there are three important things in particular
that he had learned. First, he learned that the pattern or model used by the
facilitators in the delivery of materials was varied and never monotonous. The
methodology used was exciting, making it easy for participants to understand.
He said that they had never attended any other workshop which was as
interesting as this workshop. Secondly he was impressed that the facilitators
related to the participants by instilling educational values of character and
commitment and maintaining time schedules and discipline. He said that the
most impressive thing was that the participants were always greeted warmly
with a smile, greeting, and a sincere hand shake. This made everyone feel
comfortable during this workshop. Thirdly he believed that the scope of the
materials presented by the facilitators was very relevant to the management of
schools in the field. The activities conducted in the delivery of the material was
also very unique and extraordinary, which prepared participants to be ready to
face the real situations in their own schools. He said they will continue to strive
to consistently apply everything that they have learned in this workshop back at
their school.
(NSIP1-22: Pak Ali Rohali is a school Supervisor at SMP 6 Ketungau Hilir)
Story 11
Pak Lentin, a part-time teacher of SMP 7 SATAP Ketungau Tengah at the Jambi
Workshop came from a poor family. He was always eager however to go to
school. After graduating from elementary school, he was determined to continue
his education at a junior high school in Sintang district. Bringing with him his
elementary school diploma, he walked for two days and one night to a town
centre to be able to attend secondary school. To survive and finance his
education, he tried to find a job and finally met with an army captain who was
happy to let Pak Lentin stay at his house and supported his education in return
for household chores. He lived there until he graduated from SMAN 1 Sintang.
Whenever he returned home, he always encouraged his friends to go to school,
reminding them that whenever there is a will there will be a way. Pak Lentin was
the first person in his village to graduate from high school. After becoming an
official in Sintang, he decided to return to his village. When he went back to his
village, he realized that many children did not continue their education after
graduating from primary school. When asked why they did not continue their
education, they said that they could not afford the cost or that there was no SMP
close to their homes. But Pak Lentin felt the real truth was that they did not have
any actual passion for education. They still assumed that the only reason to get a
higher education was for the purpose of becoming a civil servant. He was
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determined to change that assumption and decided to start by example.
Therefore, when he was elected the Head of the Village (2005-2010) he decided
to go to college. Despite all of the financial problems and time constraints, he
finally earned an S1 degree from Widya Dharma Teacher Training Institute of
Education in Surabaya in 2009 by taking distance-learning programs. During his
term as Head of the Village, the most difficult thing he faced was how he could lay
the foundation for good services, good village administration, and good
leadership. Pak Lentin believes that, as a leader, he has to make changes with
even the slightest things for improvement and that he should always start with
himself. During his term in office, he tried to find ways of establishing a public
SMP in his village so that the children who had completed elementary school
would no longer have to walk a long distance to go to school. Finally, his dream
came true when the SMP was established through the Australia-Indonesian
Partnership. He then signed up to be a part-time teacher at the new SMP. He
says he uses every opportunity to motivate students so that they always believe
that school is an important place to get knowledge, with which they can do
anything and get anything they have ever dreamed about. Nothing will change if
they do not go to school. He explains to them that they may make some money at
the moment without that education, but they will be left behind in terms of
mindset, adaptation, and competition. Despite the fact that Pak Lentin is a parttime teacher he never feels inferior or discouraged because he believes that "the
most important thing we need is knowledge because it can change us for the
better and it is only through education that this improvement can it be made.”
(NSIP1-22: Pak Lentin is a teacher at SMP 7 SATAP Ketungau Tengah)
Story 12
SMP 6 Sungaiselan in Pangkal Pinang was fortunate to be built on grounds with
fertile soil. The school decided to grow eggplants in their spacious school
grounds to add value through the sale of the vegetables to support school
initiatives. On their school land, as many as 800 rods of eggplants can be planted.
Of the 800 rods of eggplant, as many as 120 kg of eggplants can be harvested
three times a week on a regular basis. By the time they attended the New School
Induction workshop, 3,000 kilograms of eggplant had been harvested from the
plantation. The school builds local relationships by applying a share-cropping
system involving the community. The share-cropping system is used through
asking members of the local community to participate in the planting and
tending of the eggplant plantation. The crops are then sold for 3,500 rupiah per
kilogram. The money from the sale of the eggplants is used to fund some of the
school operational costs and to help underprivileged students.
(NSIP1-21: SMP 6 Sungaiselanis in Pangkal Pinang)
Story 13
SMPN 8 SATAP Toboali in Pangkal Pinang has instigated a number of exciting
initiatives as a new school. The students at SMPN 8 Toboali are making beautiful
beads from acrylic material and batik. This activity is designed for all students,
both male and female to encourage creativity. The students' craft work is then
sold at prices ranging from Rp 150.000 to Rp 350,000 per item. While 20% of
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the profit is given to the students to be used for educational purposes, the rest is
used for school operational support. In addition, this school has also established
cooperation with the local police to improve of road safety. This is proving very
useful in improving students' awareness of traffic safety. It is important to note
that the number of road accidents in South Bangka is very high. This school has
already pioneered a good partnership with stakeholders.
(NSIP1- 21: SMPN 8 SATAP Toboali in Pangkal Pinang)
Story 14
Pak Edi is a member of a school committee from SMPN 9 SATAP Nanga Tayap.
When he was asked by the principal of the SMP whether he could attend the New
School Induction Workshop with the team for the SMP he had to give it some
thought. He was told that the journey in itself would take a day and a half and not
be easy. At first he didn’t confirm his attendance as he was worried that he was
not in good physical condition and as a sixty-eight-year-old man he might not be
able to cope with the journey or the workshop as he had little background
himself in education. However Pak Edi agreed to join the school team and was
subsequently very happy to be able to take part in this workshop as he was
surprised by just how many things he was able to learn during the week. He said
that three days after the workshop he intended to invite all school members and
the community in order to share what he together with the principal, teachers
and supervisor had learned from the New School Induction workshop
experience.
(NSIP1- 20: Pak Edi is a member of the School Committee of SMPN 9 SATAP
Nanga Tayap)
Story 15
Pak Reski is a teacher at SMPN 6 SATAP Paloh Kabupaten Sambas, Sungai
Tengah, which is a remote and isolated area at the end of Sambas District, West
Kalimantan. To reach this village requires nine hours travel from the city of
Pontianak. The only possible transportation mode to reach Sungai Tengah is a
boat. Sungai Tengah is on the border between Indonesia and Malaysia. Most
people here work in the plantations, receiving a low income. It requires a strong
commitment to live here since Sungai Tengah is an area in which electricity,
phone signals, and communication networks are scarce. When Pak Reski first
came to Sungai Tengah and started to teach there, he found so many things that
were different such as poor attendance by students, very basic living conditions
and a simple, traditional life style. He was however very proud of his students
since they were very active although there were still so many things he wanted
to improve. During his first weeks of teaching at the school, he noticed that
during class time, there was always a student asking for permission to go out and
he was surprised to see that the boys always went to the river. This happened
day after day with another boy asking for permission and again going to the
river, so he asked them why they were going to the river. He was surprised when
he heard that they went to the river to urinate. It was a bad habit that not only
his students had, but also all the local people had as well, in using the river in this
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way as this river was so important to the village life.. The toilet in the new school
was not yet finished but they did have toilets in the SD buildings that they could
use. Instead chose to go to the river. The SMP teachers all decided to encourage
better and healthier habits with their students to get them to start using the
available toilets. This was almost a year ago and now none of the students go to
the river to urinate. This is seen as a positive result through good cooperation
between the teachers and the principal to change behaviour. Pak Reski said he
learned that change does not take place instantly, but it comes through
cooperation and commitment across the whole school. He felt this was strongly
reinforced by the New School Induction Workshop and that he will return to his
school prepared to make change in a range of different areas bit by bit for school
improvement.
(NSIP1-16: Reski Mandasari is a teacher at SMPN 6 SATAP Paloh Kabupaten
Sambas).
Story 16
Pak Mulyadi, a teacher and school treasurer at our workshop, told the story of
Gajah Mati. This is a remote village, far from the hustle and bustle of a big city
and is located in the Sungai Menang Sub District of Ogan Komering Ilir District of
West Sumatra. The village borders with the Wiralaga Village, in Mesuji Sub
District of Mesuji, District, Lampung along the Mesuji River. The people live along
the Mesuji River. The village culture is still very traditional and the community
of Gajah Mati in general collects wood from the forest. In 1971 the first
elementary school of SDN 1 Gajah Mati was established. Those graduates from
this elementary school, who had parents with sufficient finances could afford to
continue to a junior high school in Mesuji District, Lampung but those from poor
families had to stop their education and help their parents to earn some money
before themselves marrying at a young age of 14–15 years old, only two or three
years after they graduated from elementary school. Many girls were afraid that
they would not find a husband unless they married very early. This was a fear
instilled in them by their parents. This situation continued until the beginning of
2005, when an education foundation came to help this village. The founder of
this foundation was originally from Desa Gajah Mati and had become a successful
business person in Jakarta and was concerned with the conditions in his area.
The foundation was actually warmly welcomed by the community of Gajah Mati,
which had never had outsiders coming as educators as they rarely socialize with
the outside world. Pak Mulyadi came to the village as a member of this
foundation and spent the next two years doing this job in Gajah Mati, educating
and teaching children there as well as providing education to the local
community in general through the foundation. The village still had their
elementary school but no junior secondary school. Pak Mulyadi faced a lot of
obstacles as an outsider but was determined to succeed as he believed strongly
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in the need for local education. Eventually he married a woman from a respected
family in the village and became officially a member of the Gajah Mati
community. Six years after Pak Mulyadi first came to the Gajah Mati village the
community started to think further about the education of their children since
they saw that many graduates of the elementary school could not continue their
education to the level of Junior High School because the nearest one was still so
far away and required them going to the Mesuji District and across the Mesuji
River. Pak Mulyadi had submitted a request for an SMP since 2006 to the local
government but had no response. However the village did not lose hope and was
therefore very grateful for the support of Australian Aid in 2012 in constructing a
new school. At the beginning when the new school was constructed the
community was still hesitant and Pak Mulyadi said that the new school
community needed to establish the trust of the village as only some of the
children in the village started to go to SMP 7. But eventually they started to trust
the new school and now in its second year, they have started to happily put their
children in this school, SMP 7 Sungai Menang. Now the village does not have any
children dropping out of school as they can go to SMP in their own village. Pak
Mulyadi said that their village is so grateful to Australian Aid and he personally
wanted to say thank-you.
(NSIP1-11: Pak Mulyadi, is a Teacher and Treasurer at SMPN 7 Sungai Menang in
Ogan Komering Ilir District)
Story 17
In the Leadership Session at the New School Induction Workshops, participants
are encouraged to share their personal stories of leaders who have guided their
own leadership development. Participants share stories of leaders from their
work, family and community environments. This is Winarti’s story. Winarti is a
young Teacher at SMP Negeri 6 SATAP Tungkal Jaya, Musi Banyuasin District,
South Sumatera, and represented her school at the New School Induction
Workshop in Palembang, 18-22 November 2013. “I am a teacher born into a
simple family as the second child of three siblings and have an older brother
and a younger sister. My parents only finished elementary school yet they were
able to teach me so much about strong leadership from an early age. My father
was a labourer, who had to work hard to meet our daily needs while my mother
collected and sold firewood all over the village. Besides working to collect
firewood, she also did what I believe no women should have to do after selling
firewood all day as she then worked to make bricks. They did all of this in order
to raise us and to give us a strong commitment to lead positive lives. They did not
want us to be like them. They always said, “You have to do better in life than we
did”. We are so very proud of our parents, who have brought us up with so much
love. They have been both friends and role models as leaders in our lives. They
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were very enthusiastic to put us through school, and with all of our financial
limitations, we were still able to have a good education. My parents as leaders of
our family believed so strongly in education. My brother was able to finish D3,
my sister was able to become a flight attendant and I was able to finish
education until senior high school. I am proud to say that through elementary,
junior and senior high schools I was awarded a scholarship for students with
high achievement. After I finished my Senior High School, I wanted to register in
a school for flight attendants, but at the same time my brother had an
opportunity to work in Japan and since our parents were not able to pay for both
of us, it was decided as a family that I had to postpone my enrolment. It was the
encouragement by my parents however that has kept me going and turned me
instead to work in education as they always taught us, “Use your life to make
good things and do not lose a day of your life in not striving to make it better
than before and do not ever lie, not even the smallest lie, since one lie will always
result in other lies”. Sadly we did not have an opportunity to make them both
happy, as we have lost our father because of illness. I am so grateful. My parents
taught me such great leadership characteristics. They taught me to be ethical, to
be honest, to be motivated, to strive for excellence, to be hard working, to be
supportive of others and to be committed but above all my parents taught their
children, “Our lack of education should always be the recipe for your success”.
(NSIP1- 10) Winarti is a Teacher at SMP Negeri 6 SATAP Tungkal Jaya, Musi
Banyuasin District, South Sumatera)
Story 18
When the facilitator was setting the protocols with the participants on the first
afternoon, one workshop participant suggested that all participants should wear
shoes during the workshop rather than sandals. This was then agreed on by all as
one of the rules of the workshop. What we, as facilitators, failed to remember in
allowing this protocol to be set by the participants was that our NSIP workshops
are fully inclusive. So this was a really good lesson for us as facilitators. On the
next day, a participant, who was a member of a school committee, was so
worried when entering the workshop room as he did not own any shoes. We, the
facilitators, spoke with him at length and reassured him that he was very
welcome at our workshop and that he could certainly still take part in the
workshop although he didn’t own shoes. We explained that this was because the
workshop was open, and every person had the right to learn in this workshop.
We apologised to him for having allowed that rule to be set and explained that
we too constantly learned during our workshops. We shared our appreciation for
his participation in this workshop in order to learn. This calmed him
considerably and he then happily took part in all sessions. We also took the
opportunity at that point to talk to the whole workshop group about social
inclusion and that everyone has the right to learn without any exception. As a
result of speaking with the participants we all agreed to erase this protocol that
obliged participants to wear shoes. All participants agreed with this very
strongly and so it was a good lesson for both the facilitators and the participants
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in terms of social inclusion. The face of the school committee member lit up and
he involved himself thoroughly and cheerfully in all sessions and and even took
the role of the chair of the school committee during the simulation for the social
inclusion session on Tuesday evening. All of this became such a good lesson for
us as the facilitators of this workshop, and for all New School Induction
facilitators in general. When we want to set protocols we have to pay attention to
social inclusion, since these are also things that we want to emphasize to our
participants. Things that should be included in the protocols are simply things
that can actually hamper the learning process in a workshop such as the use of
hand phones and respecting others opinions.
(NSIP1-9: The member of the school committee is Bapak Sukarman from SMP 37
Muko-Muko.)
Story 19
During the Bengkulu workshop, a supervisor really came to the attention of the
facilitators. His pre-test score was extremely high at 95%. His only mistake was
one question about libraries. He was highly enthusiastic in taking part in all
workshop sessions. When working in his school group, he always supported
learning amongst the school team. He was also active in encouraging not just his
own team members but also other workshop participants. When the facilitators
had a personal conversation with him, he said that this was the first workshop he
had ever attended that imparted so much knowledge. He explained that he used
to be a principal and he said that the materials on leadership in our workshop
really taught him that as a leader he must be able to share roles with other
leaders. He said that he now realised that this is because leadership can only
succeed if it is implemented together in a strong team. He also said that he was
highly impressed with the time discipline created in this workshop but above all
the moral support extended by the School Induction Advisor, the facilitators and
the administration team that made him feel like he was ‘human’.
(NSIP1- 9: The supervisor was Bapak Sambodo, S.Pd., Supervisor of SMP 3 Satu
Atap Kerkap, Bengkulu)
Story 20
A supervisor from Tasikmalaya District revealed that she has tough school
supervision and development challenges. She said it is tough because the
distance she had to travel from one school to another is long (± 25 km) through
difficult terrains and damaged roads and plantations with long and winding
roads. However, she said her weariness disappears instantly when she arrives at
schools and is welcomed by the warm smiles of teachers and students knowing
that she, as their supervisor, can help them to achieve their hopes and ideals.
There was a great sense of gratitude therefore when the new school was built in
an area that clearly needed it so that now the students did not have to travel so
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far and for so many hours in order to achieve their dreams, teachers did not have
to travel far through risky hilly countryside and cross rivers in order to help
students achieve these dreams while parents did not have to worry about the
distances their children were travelling. Her sense of responsibility was
strengthened as a result of taking part in this School Induction workshop since
she said that this was such a good forum to share experiences and knowledge, to
learn and work together, and during the workshop she also realized that there
were other places that had even more difficult problems and conditions for
learning. She says she now has even stronger motivation and a personal promise
to herself to help her schools become great schools with all the things she has
learned at the New School Induction workshop.
(NSIP1- 5: The supervisor is Yuyu Siti Yuliati M.Pd., Supervisor of SMP Satap 5
Culamega, Tasikmalaya District)
Story 21
In the simulated radio interview program at the New School Induction Program
Workshop during the Teaching and Learning Session, “What makes a great
teacher?” one of the participants interviewed a principal. it was revealed that this
principal has been given an opportunity to visit Australia (Adelaide) in
November 2013 to experience the learning methodology used there. He
emphatically said in his interview that we should never be afraid to dream to
improve the quality of education in Indonesia, even for areas that are far from
the capital. We should always work to improve teachers’ professionalism and
focus on students’ needs. He said taking part in this New School Induction
Workshop made him feel that he was challenged and more determined than ever
to provide positive, creative, innovative and participative learning
methodologies at his school so that students are encouraged to find their own
solutions. In this way they will engage in working opportunities in the future that
are right for them.
(NSIP1-3: The Principal is H. Dausa, M.Pd, Principal of SMPN Satu Atap 2 Terisi,
Indramayu District)
Story 22
During the Social Inclusion Session Tuesday Evening the school committee is the
key element. At Workshop 35 one of the school committee members, Elfrida Sila,
really caught our attention. Although she was very young she was tasked to be
the MC for this session. We were highly impressed with her voice and the way
she played her role as MC during the simulated School Committee Meeting.
During practice, she doubted whether she would be able to do her part well. But
after we encouraged her and provided her with directions of the run-down of the
activities, she seemed to gain confidence to do it. This social inclusion session
went very smoothly. When asked about her feelings in relation to running this
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committee meeting, she said that through this workshop she had taken a big step
forward. Becoming an MC was something that she had never done before,
therefore, she felt so lucky in this workshop as her confidence had started to
grow and this was due to the support from the other school committee members
and to the support provided by the facilitators. She continued by saying that she
now knew how important it is to build a relationship between schools and the
community in order to create a comfortable, clean, healthy and safe environment
for students which will certainly improve their education quality.
(NSIP1-35: Ibu Elfrida Sila is a member of SMP Satap Sunbaki School Committee)
Story 22
After eight months of construction SMP Negeri Kewapante which was funded by
DFAT, commenced with 96 students in July 2013 realising a village dream to
finally have an SMP. Our school promotes a student friendly program symbolised
by our teachers waiting to greet each student as the students arrive to start their
daily learning. We have planted trees and flowers which the students are
responsible for in order to improve our school environment. Our food program
at our school makes us unique. We have trained our students to include local
food in their diets right from the start in order to replace rice, particularly Asoda
(Asli Ohu Ai Daan), which is a product made out of cassava. We also have other
local products such as banana and taro that can be made into various types of
cakes as well as Tuin Ikan, or grilled fish made from local traditional spices and a
vegetables mix known as Lawar Ara Roun. For dessert our students have a fruit
cocktail, which we call Es Sri Ayu. We are proud that we, SMPN Kewapante, from
SIKKA district teach students how to use these local foods. It would be an honor
for us if you take time to visit our school and enjoy these amazing foods together
with the students of SMPN Kewapante. Thank you, AusAID, thank you,
Government of Indonesia because after taking part in this school induction
workshop no 34 in Bali, we hope that in the future our school will be the best
among the best.
(NSIP1-34: Participants from SMP Negeri Kewapante)
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