Batik lessons in school aim to preserve tradition

Slamet Susanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bantul, Yogyakarta   |  Fri, 05/16/2008 12:51 PM  |  Lifestyle

Students of Giriloyo Islamic elementary school in Imogiri, Bantul, Yogyakarta, gather around a hot wax pot to apply batik designs to their pieces of cloth.

Every Monday and Wednesday, hundreds of first to fourth graders of the Giriloyo Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Islamic elementary school in Imogiri, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, have batik-making lessons.

The skill of making batik has been taught at the school, which is located one kilometer northeast of the Mataram royal cemetery of Imogiri, since the beginning of 2007 and has even become part of the school's curriculum.

"For centuries, Giriloyo village has been known as a kampong of batik makers. But the continuity of this kampong is threatened, as today's younger generation have limited batik-making skills," said Tatik Sutaryati, the school's principal.

The majority of Giriloyo's more than 700 batik craftspeople are now middle aged or older. Meanwhile, Tatik said, their progeny are preoccupied with modern entertainment and many have never been taught how to make batik.

When TV was not as widespread as today, Tatik recalled, the children in Giriloyo practiced this delicate craft at home from an early age. After school, they used to help their parents with batik making.

For example, Hani, a fourth grader at the school, said she had never been taught how to make batik, even though her mother, Giyanti, made batik everyday.

"In the absence of a succeeding generation, batik craftsmanship, which has so far become the backbone of the local people's economy, will fade away as a natural process," Tatik said.

Through the batik lessons provided at school, Tatik hoped the generation gap could be bridged so the batik kampong could continue to exist.

Of the 350 students at Giriloyo Islamic school, more than 200 first to fourth graders receive batik-making lessons. while fifth and sixth graders focus on preparations for their national exams.

To ensure students enjoy the skills training, the batik lessons are set in a semi-formal way and involve a traditional batik-making process using simpler patterns.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, and after formal lessons are finished, course participants gather in the school mosque. They are given 45-minute lessons in batik-pattern making: The students are encouraged to be imaginative and create their own designs.

After creating their patterns, the children sit in groups around wax-heating stoves in a half-open room behind the school and start applying wax to cloth. Thereafter, they learn how to color fabrics and how to remove the wax by boiling and drying their pieces of cloth.

The school, in cooperation with other institutions like Dompet Dhuafa Republika and the Indonesian Arts Institute of Yogyakarta, has secured tutorial personnel for training and lessons in batik-making for its students.

Ali Mahmud, one of the school's batik tutors, said batik-making lessons covered the preliminary steps of batik-pattern making, followed by pattern drawing, coloring and finishing.

In one of her pieces, Elfa, another fourth grader, reflected her creativity with a green batik design featuring rural images. She created a piece that depicted a village home with a fish pond and green foliage. Her other peers created the patterns of heroes and cartoon film figures.

"We hope such free and creative batik making will be useful in their future lives," Ali said.

The school also involves members of the local community as teachers.

"I'm very happy to be involved. Batik-making skills are now rarely found among youths," said Widiastuti, who helps teach the batik course.

Tatik said funding was one threat to the continuity of the batik training program: At least Rp 800,000 is needed for fabrics, batik making equipment and tutorial services per month.

"So far, funding has been provided by Dompet Dhuafa Republika. But our cooperation will end in June 2008," she said, adding the school was trying to find other sponsors to maintain its batik activities.

The school is also training several teachers to become tutors.

"They also come from Giriloyo, with batik-making skills. We're now guiding them to be able to serve as tutors."

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