Schools with friendly atmosphere

At a first glance, state-run junior high school SMPN 2 Limboto in Gorontalo regency is the same as other ordinary public schools. Entering the compound, however, people find trees and beautiful ornamental plants arranged to make the school fresh and green.

The school’s green environment was initiated by SMPN 2 Limboto principal Bahrudin Puyo, who began his duties at the school in 2004. He initially embarked on the green program by introducing “Clean Saturday” activities, where every Saturday students and teachers planted trees, replacing older plants with younger ones, while at the same time caring for healthy plants and trees.

The school’s compound is now filled with trees and ornamental plants of various types, as well as medicinal herbs. Some of the plants were donated by parents who appreciate the fresh atmosphere at the school. As a result, amid hot temperatures during the day, the classrooms remain cool. This helps the process of both teaching and learning at the school, where minimum standards for basic education have been implemented. “It was hot and barren when I started my position as principal here seven years ago,” Bahrudin said.

The green activities have also helped facilitate teachers’ instruction activities. When teachers instruct a biology lesson, for example, they invite students into the schoolyard to show them various plants.

In the corner of one open space there are pots of paddy plants. “We use this to show students the origin of the staple foods they eat every day and explain the process of planting them,” Bahrudin said, pointing at plants that had begun to bear grain.

Various environmental preservation efforts have also been initiated by the school, including planting trees around Limboto Lake through the “One Student, One Tree” program. It is therefore not surprising that the school received an Adiwiyata Award from the Ministry of Environment in 2009 for its success in encouraging environmental preservation.

Due to the cleanliness and organization of the school compound, conditions at the school are much better than a number of state-run schools in Jakarta and other parts of Java, where basic infrastructure far exceeds that of Gorontalo. Is SMPN 2 Limboto the best school in Gorontalo? “No. It ranks 10th at the regency level and 50th at the provincial level,” regency education office head Lilian Rahman said.

“Conditions of nearly all schools in the regency are similar to this,” Lilian said, adding that no local schools were considered to be in disorder. This was the result of the serious attention paid by the local administration.

Bahrudin explained that his school, which has 615 students and 41 teachers, has attracted the attention of a rising number of parents hoping to send their children to study there.

In order to help with the school’s expenditures, parents are asked to pay an annual voluntary contribution in addition to the monthly tuition fees. Wealthy students, for example, are asked to contribute Rp 500,000 (US$56). Parents of middle class students are asked to contribute Rp 250,000, while poor families are not asked to pay anything. If people would like to offer a contribution in the form of agricultural produce, for example, they are encouraged to do so, said Bahrudin, who is also a Ph.D. candidate at Jakarta State University.

Bahrudin is one of eight teachers who received scholarships from the regency administration to continue their studies at the doctorate level. “This is a reward for anyone who has done their best to develop education in the regency,” Lilian said.

Aside from providing scholarships for doctoral studies, the administration also offers other rewards by sending the top five teachers on the haj pilgrimage to Mecca annually, she said.

Lilian reiterated there are no elementary or junior high school dropouts in the regency, as she had assigned officers to monitor village activities. Children found to have been forced by their parents to leave school to help their families earn a living are asked to attend courses during the evening. Lilian said that such courses are usually provided near market or lake areas. All additional education activities are funded by the city administration.

During a visit to another school, state-run elementary school SDN I East Limehe, conditions appeared to be about the same as SMPN 2. Cleanliness, combined with displays of teaching aids and the results of student creativity could be found everywhere, including on classroom walls and along hallway corridors.

One of the displays described an “Honesty Board”, where each student has his or her own watch to record their time of arrival at school. Students are asked to record their arrival times honestly.

Students are expected to arrive at school an hour before class, which starts at 7:15 a.m. The additional time is used for reading.

Another display consists of written remarks describing what students had read during the week. Other students are encouraged to read their friends’ commentary whenever they are interested in a particular subject.

The last visit was to Batudaa Madrasah Islamic School, which under the implementation of the minimum standards for basic education has tried to catch up with the progress already being achieved at ordinary public schools.

Gorontalo regent David Bobihoe Akib said that he was striving to help improve the quality of madrasah schools, which in certain cases were falling behind public schools in terms of quality of student input and building infrastructure.