It was the sixth day of my internship program at Happy Hearts Indonesia (HHI) when I visited schools that have been rebuilt by HHI. It was my very first time and visiting a newly rebuilt school is such a new experience for me. As a communications and reporting intern, my daily task is writing school construction proposals and reports to be delivered to our donors. That day, I finally had a chance to see the school! I was so excited. On that first visit, I joined HHI’s Impact Officer and Program Officer as well as two other interns, Dewi and Michelle. We visited three schools located in Kota Serang and Kota Cilegon, Banten. The schools include PAUD Al-Hikmah, PAUD Nurul Quran and PAUD Widuri whose locations are relatively not too far from Jakarta, approximately one until two hours of driving. Two of the three schools we were visiting, PAUD Al-Hikmah and PAUD Nurul Quran were still in the finishing stage. Meanwhile, PAUD Widuri was rebuilt in 2018 and is currently in the submission stage for an extension.
Unfortunately, when we got there, we did not meet the students since we arrived after school operational time. Yet, we met the teachers, specifically the principals. When we talked to them, I could tell just by looking at their eyes that the principals were delighted to have their schools rebuilt by Happy Hearts Indonesia in partnership with the corporate donors. The new building is such a big support for them to improve the quality of education in their schools. Also, according to the principals, the new facilities and infrastructures have encouraged the students to go to school and multiplied their excitement to study. In PAUD Widuri, the number of students has been growing since the improvement of the facilities. This indicates a positive impact and might be a good start for a better quality of early childhood education in the area.
In spite of this advancement, the principals told us that there is still an abundance of limitations they are facing as teachers such as some difficulties in implementing the latest curriculum (K13) and the struggles related to the very low teachers’ salary, especially in PAUD Al-Hikmah and PAUD Nurul Quran. Meanwhile, PAUD Widuri has been one of the well-developed schools that were rebuilt by Happy Hearts Indonesia. This school has been implementing the K13 curriculum for awhile. Based on this school visit experience, I can say that rebuilding schools, as what Happy Hearts Indonesia has been doing, might be the right kick-off for significant development in the field of education. Yet, we can not just stop there. There are more problems to solve, there are more aspects to improve, there are more to do for the sake of escalation in Indonesia’s quality of education. Speaking of the improvement in the quality of education, you can take part in this mission by supporting Happy Hearts Indonesia and our campaigns!
written by: Meidiana
PAUD Nurul Quran ‘s school signpost
New classroom of PAUD Al-Hikmah
New School Building of PAUD Al-Hikmah
