Build Safe School For Children In East Indonesia

More than a year into the pandemic, while schools in urban areas are struggling on how to get students motivated in their Zoom classes, schools in East Nusa Tenggara are struggling with basic things that we sometimes take for granted.  Mr. Joni, Principal of Tenau Public Elementary School in Kupang said, "Many teachers here don't even have handphones. Some parents have handphones but their children don't know how to use them."

Even with the lack of technology, Tenau Elementary continues to conduct distance learning or Pembelajaran Jarak Jauh (PJJ) by having meeting points in communities where students live. Since 90% of the students do not have access to online learning, every morning Tenau teachers spread out to the meeting points to teach small groups of students. Homework assignments, tests and exams are conducted in the small group setting.

As vaccinations are rolling out, more and more schools in East Nusa Tenggara are reopening. Students are getting temperature checks at the door and full classrooms are divided into 2 shifts to keep a safe distance. Mr. Joni sees a silver lining in the midst of all this, in which his students are now more independent as they realize that learning doesn't stop in school and they can learn from anywhere.

8 Schools Rebuilt Year to Date

Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms as well as Cyclone Seroja that struck East Indonesia hampered our school construction projects in the area for the first few months of 2021. We restarted our projects on the islands of Sumba, Flores and Timor as soon as weather conditions allowed in April.

This year to date we completed reconstruction of 8 schools in East Nusa Tenggara while 4 more schools and 1 library are in progress. In total we have rebuilt 82 schools in the province. Thank you for your continuous support! Together we can rebuild 200 schools and provide better quality of education for children in East Nusa Tenggara.

Links:

• #IAMCHANGE campaign to rebuild 200 schools in East Nusa Tenggara

Hero of 2020: Ibu Hilde from Eforbia Preschool

This time last year, Mrs or Ibu Hilde, one of the teachers at Eforbia Preschool in Flores that we rebuilt in March 2019, had around 20 children in her classroom on a given day. Due to the pandemic, schools in the area had to close, were able to reopen and then closed again. Such learning disruption had not been easy for the students and it was not helped either by the lack of virtual learning technologies in Nusa Tenggara Timur.

Ibu Hilde and her colleagues helped ease the transition by visiting her students at their homes. She would coordinate a maximum of 5 students in a group and visit each group 3 times a week. Even though each group visit would only last an hour, Ibu Hilde was able to give her students lessons and sometimes homework. More importantly, her presence provided a sense of normalcy for her students and learning continuity especially in these uncertain times.

17 Schools Rebuilt!

2020 has definitely been a tough year for all of us. Nevertheless, we managed to rebuild 17 schools in East Nusa Tenggara: 5 in Flores, 5 in Sumba and 7 in Timor benefiting at least 1,400 students. A total of 74 schools in the region have been rebuilt so far, thanks to your continued support for the #iamchange campaign!

Links:

• Find out where we rebuild in East Nusa Tenggara