Quality Education for Children in Indonesia

YUM welcomes students from schools or universities, both local and international, who would like to engage with our projects. Last year, a student from the Social Welfare Faculty of the University of Indonesia spent 4 months doing her internship and was assigned to identify the needs of the Tutoring and Remedial class. She found out that the parents of the tutoring students needed support to ensure their children keep learning at home, while the schools remained closed. 

To solve this issue, she recommended a home learning guidebook for parents. The guidebook is designed by the intern under the supervision of a YUM staff member and her university advisor. The guidebook contains types of student learning styles and how the parents can support their children to study at home. The initial workshop took place last year and we received much positive feedback from the parents. Therefore, we have decided to make this activity a regular part of YUM’s Tutoring program.

With the support we received from yourself and other donors, this year we have been able to run the workshop 4 times. Three of them took place at local schools and one was held at YUM’s hall. All of the workshops were led by either our Program Manager or our project officers. In total there have been almost 100 participants  and at the end of the session, they all receive the guidebook. 80% of them are parents and the rest are teachers and the school principals.

Let’s hear what the Mr. DD, parent of NC, 3rd grader, said about this activity: 

“I wish to help my daughter study at home, but sometimes I do not know what is the best way to help her. After this workshop session, I feel more familiar with the type of student my daughter is. She is a visual type. It is easier for her to remember something when she has seen it directly. Thanks to YUM and the school for inviting me here.”

And now, let’s hear what Miss AI, teacher of 1st grade, said about this activity:

“This Parenting workshop gives us knowledge that we have not known before. Through this activity, we also can share our experience from school with the parents. Now, we have the same knowledge with our students' parents. It will make it easier for both of us to support our students."

Before the pandemic, the Community Library in Cipanas worked closely with several local primary schools around the area to provide access to quality reading materials. We called this program the Box of Books (BOB) program, due to the fact that the books were placed inside a box when delivered to each school. According to our survey, we found out that not every school in the area has its own library. In order to remedy this, we created a mobile library system by distributing a box of books to various schools and placing them for 1,5 months. Afterward, the box will rotate to another school so that each participating school will enjoy a different set of books. 

Due to schools being closed for almost 2 years, the program had been canceled. Fortunately, schools have started reopening, and this March, we received a request from SDN Bakom (Bakom Primary School) for a box of books to be placed at their school so that their students can read books before their lessons start or at break times.  

Recently, we received great feedback from the school, coming from their students:

“I love reading these books. It is simple with many beautiful pictures. My favorite things are science books and folktales.” Indah,4th grade

“I always come earlier to school now because I want to have time to read before the school bell rings. I love all the books from the box and I have read almost all of the books. I cannot wait for the next box to come. “ Hanifa, 4th grade.

With your kind donation, we plan to reactivate the Box of Books Program and provide more books for students like Hanifa and Indah. Thank you all!