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Helping poor children in Indonesia receive a quality education
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A fatwa against yoga? It happened on the island of Bali in March, as a yoga conference was about to commence. While the conference organizers probably wondered about the Council of Ulemas’ issuance, the conference went on as planned. Yoga brings tourists and tourism is an effective profitable industry in Bali. Aside from Bali’s vision of becoming the capital of spiritual tourism, the majority of Balinese Indonesians celebrate Hinduism in their daily lives. The people who celebrate Balinese Hinduism weave ritual into practical daily chores, with some of the rituals centering around rice, as many Balinese are rice farmers.
While sharing and celebrating the rich culture of the Balinese, some travelers have made it off the beaten path and have since become investors in the education of the children of Bali and of many of Indonesia’s provinces. Noticing the enthusiasm of Indonesian students and the need for reconstruction of school buildings and improvements to the quality of the education, non-profit organizations and foundations, international organizations and foreign ministers from various countries have stepped up assistance to improve the educational experience in many villages.
Indonesia Education Efforts
According to the World Bank, while Indonesia has recovered from the economic crisis of the 1990s, it still under-performs in terms of access to quality education services when compared to neighboring countries.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reports that in its efforts to assist Indonesia in improving the quality of the education that it provides to its children, several initiatives have been taken. One includes the Australia-Indonesia Basic Education Program (AIBEP), which aims to raise the enrollment of students attending junior secondary schools from 75% to 95% by 2012. Australia is also helping to build new schools across 21 provinces, including the poorest and more remote areas.
Indonesia has an educational goal of achieving universal access to nine years of quality education. To meet this goal, the Indonesian government as a member of the E-9 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan) hosted a meeting in Bali of the E-9 to strengthen progress in Education for All (EFA) in March 2008. According to the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, while 90% of Indonesian children are in school, the literacy rates remain a major challenge in the E-9. Indonesia has shown a lot of progress in increasing literacy rates since 2000. The E-9 have developed 6 goals among their members: (1) expand early childhood care and education; (2) provide free and compulsory primary education for all; (3) promote learning and life skills for young people and adults; (4) increase adult literacy by 50%; (5) achieve gender parity by 2005, gender equality by 2015; and (6) improve the quality of education.
The World Bank’s efforts to help Indonesia in improving the quality of its education amount to US $830 million. The World Bank is working toward supporting the Government of Indonesia’s Ministry of National Education’s Strategic Plan (RENSTRA) policy that aims to reform the educational system.
US efforts in helping Indonesia achieve its goal in improving their education system include extensive work through USAID. In 2003, former President Bush announced a $157 million five-year Presidential Education Initiative to improve the quality of education in Indonesia. The initiative has helped 1,272 schools, 21,069 educators and 345,983 students. It is expected that by 2010, the initiative’s programs will reach 9,000 schools. The programs focus on: decentralizing basic education (DBE) to improve the capacity of local government in managing basic education; Opportunities for Vulnerable Children; Sesame Street Indonesia; and higher education.
Corporate funding to improve the educational system in Indonesia has included Coca Cola Foundation Indonesia through its Learning Center Program Initiative, which has helped in the development efforts of transforming public libraries in 14 provinces in Indonesia and turning them into effective learning centers. Both ConocoPhillips and Chevron are partners with USAID in their programs. In March, ConocoPhillips and USAID announced the completion of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 35 public and private schools, learning centers, and educational institutions in the provinces of Central Java and Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta that were destroyed as a result of a 2006 earthquake.
Bali Efforts
While efforts by international organizations and foreign governments have focused on assisting Indonesia in efforts to improve the quality of its education overall, private funding has also been focusing on improving the education in one of Indonesia’s most vibrant areas, Bali. Efforts toward improving the educational system in Bali are made by many foundations and organizations that include YKIP, Sampoerna Foundation, Ganesha Foundation in Bali, Green School in Bali, and the Balinese Children's Education Foundation.
Bali Education Foundation
I recently spoke with one of the founders of the Balinese Children's Education Foundation, Dennis Colbert, to hear about their efforts in Bali. After a visit to Bali, Dennis and Nancy Colbert organized a foundation in the United States to raise money for school improvements. They had been distressed by the lack of reconstruction efforts to schools that they had visited. Believing that a nurturing learning environment includes a clean, safe and exciting facility in which teachers share lessons with students, the Colberts became involved with the poor rural elementary schools after gaining the approval of village officials and education officials in 2005. Their efforts have been welcomed and recognized locally and serve as an example of what concerned citizens from the US can do in reaching across the globe to enrich the educational lives of children, who in turn have enriched the lives of Dennis and Nancy.
Feeling like they could make a difference, both Dennis and Nancy set out to enrich the educational experience of Balinese students attending the poor rural elementary school in Belang by renovating one of the buildings on the school grounds in 2005. Once renovated, this building was turned into a learning center. Since creating their first supplemental program, they have expanded their efforts to three other schools. 505 students participate in their afternoon programs. The supplemental educational program broadens the children’s educational experience that is offered to them by the rural schools nearby. While the children come from hard-working rice farming families, they find that their families support their interest in participating in the afternoon programs.
Interview with Dennis Colbert
What are the ages and grades of the children in the schools?
The four schools are public elementary schools grades 1-6. The children are about 6 years old when they start. The children participate up to the age of 13.
Are there other schools in the area?
Yes, these are not the only schools. There are many public elementary schools, high schools and junior high schools in the area. About 30-40 years ago they had one high school in Singaraja.
Since then, as Indonesia continues to evolve over the years, Indonesia has put more money into education and has started to build elementary schools in Bali.
You mention that the traditional teaching focuses on preparing children for national test and that there is no emphasis on critical and creative thinking or discussion. What is the purpose of the national tests?
The purpose is so that they have standardized results used for comparative purposes across Indonesia. It allows Indonesia to compare the children in how they are doing, through various aspects of education that are important to the country. The tests are conducted from big cities to country schools.
We found that with the tests being the only thing emphasized in their education, the children have not had the ability to express themselves very well. When you read a story with them or to them, they have a difficult time explaining in their own words what the story was about. They are good at copying things out of books, but to express their own feelings was something else. We are trying to expand their minds and supplement the education.
In your efforts to get the children to focus less on national test preparation, how do you engage the children to learn more critical and creative thinking?
We encourage them to read the books that we have. That’s one of the first goals. We stress the use of libraries and the learning centers. The national language is bahasa–Indonesian. This language was implemented after World War II to bring together a national language, because of all of the dialects. Children were taught this national language. The books are written in this national language. We filled the learning centers with books that have a paragraph in bahasa and a paragraph in English. We read them in both languages. The teachers encourage the children to read the stories and explain the stories in their own words. By doing that we hope to open their minds a bit. We buy them in Bali. These are stories about gods and leaders and those who played large roles in folklore. These stories get passed on orally traditionally. Now they are in books.
There are six teachers in the afternoons in the 4 learning centers. We work with our teachers to push the creative aspects of these readings. Our goal is not to teach English. Our focus is to introduce them to reading more books for pleasure in addition to their textbooks. In our childhood, reading meant a lot to Nancy and I. So we want to help them start this habit when they are young and work them up toward enjoying books for reading pleasure, not just textbooks.
To express their creative abilities, Nancy works with them on various art projects. Like a Valentine’s project. She lets them decide on what they want to do. They are great at drawing. The culture itself has a lot of wood carvers and they work with stone a lot. We were very pleasantly surprised at their artistic ability. If they are asked to draw pictures, they integrate the volcanoes of the area and large lakes since there are large lakes in the area. In terms of art, they have been encouraged to move beyond rote learning. Within any good education system, you need standardization to make sure there is consistency. It’s a good place to start and then it can change slowly.
Was that welcome by the families? Are the children encouraged to build on these skills at home?
Families don’t have much ability to improve on these skills. Many family members barely went to elementary school since they had to work in the rice fields. Many family members can’t read or write. The families sometimes come to the schools. We encourage the kids to take the books home and read them to their families and bring the books back. But, we know that it’s something the families want for their children.
Before we opened any schools, we had to talk to the communities and the educational committee in each village to share our goals and our plans. They are not suspicious; they just want to know what their children are learning. They have never said ‘no’ to anything we’ve recommended. The results have been great. At the learning centers, 30-40 children will show up every afternoon. Instead of staying at home, they come back to the school. Often they bring their brothers and sisters. The books at the learning centers are classified by grade. We’ve seen a tremendous turnout. It’s staggering. It’s an indication that they enjoy it and they are learning. And they aren’t tested about what they learn from our programs.
Can you discuss how or whether or not you incorporated the culture of the Balinese in your efforts?
The culture is religious-based in Bali. Religion is taught in the schools. Religion is one of the major topics that they are tested on too in national tests. Many students come to school in ceremonial dress, because they either went to temple for a ceremony in the morning or will be going to temple later on in the day. Sometimes they wear their school uniforms. We don’t teach anything about the Hindu religion, but when they want to draw any religious drawings, they are nurtured. Some of the books relate to the culture. They are about famous religious figures from the Balinese culture.
Are they more curious about the world around them?
Their minds are being opened up some, especially in singing. They love the English songs that Nancy has taught them. They are well fed, they have rice, they live on rice, but they are on the edge of poverty. By doing these fun programs, some of the kids open up more than others. We hope that they can lighten up some. They are playful and joyful when they’re participating in the program. We also do sports with them.
Have you received any official attention by anyone in Indonesia for your efforts?
We’ve received lots of ‘thank yous’ from the local school district. They have a formal education process; it’s not hit and miss. They’ve thanked us and given a proclamation to us and put our names and pictures on there. So we have received some recognition. The local school district sent officials out to show our learning centers to people. They stand out, because they are freshly painted and clean. It’s an example for the local school officials to show what can be done to improve them. We’re happy to see an increase in educational funding being pushed all over Indonesia. They are making changes. New teachers have to be college educated now. Only a few years ago someone from the villages could be hired. Head masters have to have advanced degrees. Newer head masters are coming in with more education.
Can you recall the reactions of students to the new books you have provided?
When we first passed the books out, they were overjoyed that we would give them something like that to read at home and bring back. It opened their eyes to something. They had never had reading books except for textbooks. The kids are extremely smart in math, geography and religion, and when they saw these books, they looked thrilled and excited.
One of the goals of the Indonesian government in international relations is to have more cultural, social and economic cooperation with ASEAN member-countries (Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam). Do these children have any social interactions with children from these other countries?
No exposure by and large in the four villages. Maybe through TV, but they don’t talk about it. They are not exposed to it much. The only thing is that they do study geography. I’ll show them a map of the world, and ask them to show me where Bali is and where other countries are. They can point out many countries like US, China, and Australia. They might know Australians.
You show a picture of the rice fields on the way to one of the schools in Kelabang Moding. Rice is central to many Balinese traditions. Agriculture is one of the largest employers in Indonesia. Are most of the children from farming families?
Yes, the children in our schools are from farming families. There are some exceptions; people are finding jobs in tourism. They are working in restaurants. Ubud, a small town in the middle of the island is 5-10 miles away. Ubud is the central cultural center of Bali. There are restaurants there, a lot of tourists, and a lot of cultural and dance programs. Changes are taking place in Bali as a result of tourism. There are concerns that it will impact the culture, because people will leave the family compound to work in these other cities. Tourism can help people escape poverty, but it removes them from the family compounds and land in the countryside.
I also understand that there are a lot of family groups that have frequent ceremonies that relate to rice to create social cohesion? Are there offerings of rice daily to give thanks? Can you describe some of these?
That ritual is paramount. It happens everywhere. Offerings happen every morning by the women. Offerings are put in front of every business, even on top of cars sometimes. You see them in the hotels and restaurants to protect people from the evil gods. So the kids will make offerings in the classrooms. They know how to do that. A lot of the children carry sharp long knives to cut the palm leaf and coconut leaf, and weave them into baskets for the offerings. They also clean the weeds out of the school fields.
I’ve read a bit about the Balinese water temples and that allocation of irrigation water used to be determined by the temple’s priest. Can you share a little about this irrigation system?
The basic irrigation system was installed hundred of years ago, through these streams to filter the water through all of Bali through the rice fields and patties. The patties need to be flooded. It’s an elaborate system of small canals that go through all the islands. There is a village committee that decides who gets water and when. It’s very organized. In each stream they have a diverting mechanism that diverts it to one farmer or another. The Dutch built a lot of this, so there are some aqueducts, however, the streams are mostly small and many of them are only 2 feet across.
Bathing is a social aspect of life. Even if they should be showering at home, whole families will be bathing in the larger lakes every night talking about the day’s events - it’s a way of life. The children are extremely clean. The uniforms are spotless every day. You would think that with families on the edge of poverty that they wouldn’t have that kind of focus, but they are very neat and clean.
Does school conflict with duties to farm life?
No, not really. Their school day are from 7:30 am - noon. It’s not a conflict. Maybe sometimes not so many children will show up. Little children do not work in the rice fields. They might be out there with their parents however. The 6th graders or 5th graders are taking care of their younger siblings, while the parents are working the fields. They bring them to the learning centers. Children don’t work in the rice fields. After elementary school, a lot of them go to junior high school only for 2-3 years, because they have to work and help their families.
Do the children play in gamelan orchestras?
Yes. They are taught gamelan but not in classes. They play with parents in these orchestras. The children learn how to play since it is passed down, not written down. The temples have performances at night, and gamelan is played for tourists in tourist towns.
In studying about their place in the world, are the students learning a lot about green living in the context of their farm life?
There is much more of an emphasis on environmental issues in Bali. About 20 years ago, there was no plastic in Bali. Everything could be composted. Everything the village relied on was composted. Now, with the introduction of plastics, it’s littering the countryside with bottles. There is a big push to solve the problem.
In an effort to help, we got in touch with the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Yuyun Ismawati. She received the prize for the work she has been doing in Bali. I read about it in San Francisco Chronicle and I met with her in Bali in May. Her NGO is called BaliFokus. She works on promoting and implementing low-cost decentralized wastewater treatment and sanitation issues. We are going to work together to improve the environmental programs at the schools. Improving hygiene issues and recycling is important to Bali Education. The schools don’t always have running water. We’re hoping to develop school based total sanitation programs with BaliFokus. Right now, we buy soap for the kids. Some of the schools don’t have running water and some don’t even have drinking water.
When we work together, she will talk to the children and ask them if they wash their hands. She will ask them about where they go to the bathroom. They use the fields sometimes or sometimes they go to someone’s house. Some of the schools have locked bathrooms, because there is no water in the bathroom. There’s a bin of water next to the toilet to wash their hands. She will start with these interviews in the schools to get a valid picture of what is going on. She will design a program then that will meet the village needs. They also sort out all the recycling in the villages. Then she helps villagers make products from the recyclables so they can create sellable products. She shows the village how to get rid of waste in a productive way.
Hygiene is a big issue. It’s improving, but it needs more improvement. There are a lot of cases of diarrhea. The children are sick a lot. There is little hand washing. We encourage the children before and after working in the learning centers to wash their hands. We have to do a lot of reinforcement of these practices. Some of it is educational. They don’t understand how diseases are transmitted. It needs to be a constant reinforcement; it’s as important as buying books to read. We have to step up our efforts to attack childhood diseases. We’re going back in September and hopefully we’ll work with BaliFokus then to realize some of these improvements to the children's overall hygiene and improve the schools' recycling efforts.
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