Quality Education for Children in Indonesia

At the end of 2018, a group of like-minded NGO workers visited YUM’s projects in Cipanas, West Java. The study tour was organised by the Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC), a platform created for Asian philanthropists. The aim was to show these fellow practitioners a project that integrates education, health and community development activities based on the community’s actual needs. The activity started with an introduction session on YUM’s overall project activities by YUM’s Executive Director, Vanessa Reksodipoetro. The session then continued with the explanation about the day-to-day operations of the various projects by YUM’s Cipanas Project Manager, Samsul Maarif.

Two of YUM’s education projects that were presented were the Community Library and the Preschool. When the participants visited the community library, which is integrated with the preschool, the students welcomed them with Manuk Dadali dance and Garuda Pancasila song. Afterward, the participants had an interactive Q & A session with the librarian and preschool teachers.

A few months earlier, YUM’s preschool teachers also had an opportunity to do a one-week observation at SuryaKasih Preschool, which is run by one of APC’s members, Reachout Foundation. Our teachers learned many new things that could help them to increase and develop their teaching ability.

YUM values these types of partnerships with other organizations that have the same purpose to increase the quality of life of disadvantaged people. By learning from each other about each one’s best practices, we believe it will help us to improve our projects in the future.

Jade Sheehan spent a month volunteering at Yayasan Usaha Mulia. She assisted several sections at the YUM head office. Below is the story of her visit to the YUM Early Childhood Centre in Cipanas (West Java) which she visited for monitoring and evaluation purposes:

I was given the opportunity to join the early childhood learning centre in Cipanas for the day. I experienced the fun and interactive lessons that the tutors provided to the students and witnessed the children enthusiastically enjoying their learning. This is the first time I have been in an Indonesian school classroom and the children and teachers were so welcoming and interacted with me during the entire class, which certainly surprised me.

There was definitely an emphasis placed on nutrition and health throughout the day which was demonstrated to the children through the book read and games that were played; I thought this was a great idea to encourage positive behaviour. The teachers implemented activities that encouraged independence and personal growth which saw the students engaged and participating in their lessons

I loved seeing all the children having a great time outside on the play equipment and I had a fantastic day visiting the children and the Cipanas YUM village.