Ogi visited NTT in Eastern Indonesia recently
and here are some of her observations about what she saw. She visited
two of AusAID's project while in the area - NTT PEP
and Women's Health and Family Welfare.
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AusAID in NTT
with Ogi from KGRE's office
in Bali |
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AusAID has some very excellent projects going on in the eastern area
of Indonesia. I was lucky to be able to visit and get interesting and
useful information about the projects.
Women Health
and Family Welfare Project in Maumere
I met Dr Loesje Sompie who is the Health Promotion Coordinator
for NTT. She mentioned that the focus of the WHFW is in making pregnancy
safer. There has been series of workshop/training for midwives especially
to APN (Asuhan Persalinan Normal – Normal Delivery Care). Beside
the clinical training there is also the non clinical training IPC/C (interpersonal
communication/counselling and the IEC (information, education and communication)
for the Kader, PLKB and also the bidan (Bidan di Desa- village
midwives and bidan di Puskesmas).
The geographic condition of the area often makes delivery very difficult
to get proper medical help when there is emergency situation. This condition
has encouraged the project to established what they call ‘Desa Siaga’.
In one kabupaten there are now five desa siaga.
The other aspect of making pregnancy safer is in family planning program.
The project has been trying to do more awareness campaign with philosophy
that pregnancy should be wanted and planned.
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When I was there, a workshop/training was being held
for midwives from Flores area. It was training on Contraception Technology
Update (CTU) or Teknologi Kontrasepsi Terkini in Bahasa Indonesia.
In the past, family planning was kind of being force to mothers by
not giving enough information and choices on what contraception available
or what is suitable for them. So very often mothers didn’t feel
happy or even got sick after using contraception. Today, improvement
has been done especially with better counseling. Midwives are being
trained and are given details information on types and methods of
contraception along with ‘alat peraga’ which look
really real. There are thorough steps that midwives should do in providing
counseling and handling contraception. |
Ibu Shinta, the Head of P2KP (Pusat Pelatihan Klinis
Primer), mentioned that, " …kalau dulu pelayanan KG tidak
memperhatikan efektifitasnya tapi hanya pikir berapa cakupan kita,
kita mengejar target. Kalau sekarang kita berikan konseling sampai
dia mengerti betul dan baru memilih. Jadi tidak seperti dulu dimana
kita seakan memaksakan – ibu ini bagus. Sekarang ibu itu harus betul-betul
mendengarkan penjelasan kita. Dari pihak medis juga menyampaikan –
kalo ibu punya sakit ini, alat ini tidak tidak boleh. Itu semua ada
dalam buku sehingga jelas dan ada standardisasi dalam memberikan penyuluhan".
In the past we only think about making target. Nowadays we
provide counseling to people until they really understand and then
choose the best one for them. So it’s not like in the past where
we kind of force them – Ibu , this is good. Now mothers have
to listen to our explanation. Also explanation from medical side –
if you have this problem then you cannot use this. Those explanation
are available in the book so there is standardization in counseling. |
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The good result are shown from the good participation of community who
come to puskesmas or posyandu to get medical help or asking information
and the number increases from year to year because of the good impact
they have felt.
NTT-PEP
- Nusa Tenggara Timur Primary Education Partnership
| Another excellent project is NTT-PEP – Nusa
Tenggara Timur Primary Education Partnership. This project is
in the second phase now and many developments have been achieved.
I went to visit two elementary schools in Ende - SD Katolik Puufeo
and SD Inpres Numba 1 which has a partnership arrangement with the
NTT-PEP
Ibu Anastasia Sue, the Principal of SDK Puufeo said that SDK Puufeo
started their partnership with NTT PEP in July 2004 and since then
development has been carried out in the area of teaching methods
and teaching aids. |
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Teaching students in grade 1, 2 and 3 needs real and
concrete teaching aids. And she gave an excellent example. Last year
Ibu Anastasia took her students to town. The topic she was teaching
was about traffic lights (rambu rambu lalu lintas). Before
they went to town she explained to the students what they were going
to see - the colour of the lights, etc. and she asked them to see
what happens when people see red, green or yellow traffic lights.
Student reactions were wonderful and they knew what the meaning of
those lights was. Back at school she asked students to draw and talk
to their friends about what they have seen. That proved to be effective
because students now have a much better understanding of that topic
now. |
Pak Ibrahim bin Haji, Principal of SD Inpres Numba 1 told KGRE that the
partnership with NTT-PEP has improved some aspects of teaching at his
school. Activities in the classroom have become more enjoyable for students
and not like in the past where teachers only talked to students. Classroom
layout is also different and better now as now chairs are arranged to
adjust for the students different needs in different activities.
One important aspect of the school that Pak Ibrahim
mentioned was about violence/sternness. Teachers used to be very strict
and could easily beat or punish students. He then approached his fellow
teachers and advised them that that type of discipline will only do
harm to students.
" …Kekerasan tidak bisa mengarahkan anak ke yang lebih
baik. Pendekatan yang bagaimana sehingga anak itu tidak merasa disakiti
dan muncullah keinginan mereka untuk datang. Sebelumnya guru cenderung
bersikap keras, apalagi bila melakukan kesalahan secara otomatis anak
diberi sanksi yang merupakan kekerasan terhadap anak itu sendiri,
memukul, disuruh berlutut atau siksa dia berdiri dihadapan teman berjam-jam.
Hal seperti ini menekan anak menjadi penakut. Pada temen-teman guru
sudah diberi pengertian, reaksi, hasilnya sekarang DO hampir nol,
tidak ada DO lagi. Dulu karena siswa takut". |
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| And as a result, drop out students are zero at his school.
They all stay and study hard. What a wonderful news indeed!!
In both SDs I saw better layouts in classrooms. There are more
pictures and posters on walls. Students activities are also placed
on their classrooms walls for everyone to see. |
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Louise Quinn, the Early Years Adviser on numeracy told KGRE that works
has been done on helping teachers and schools with teaching aids.
quot;We at the moment, we’re working with the grade 1,
2, 3, teachers and we’re in the process of developing some
material which will be distributed to all schools. These will support
teachers particularly in the areas of teaching Bahasa Indonesia
and teaching mathematics. These will support the children in their
learning and also help brighten up the class to make more enjoyable
environment to be.
In addition to that there are a range of activities we are doing
in the workshops. We are showing teachers the way they can develop
their own teaching aids and material. For example, making their
own big books which they can make with children and then read and
develop with children and have their own library corner in the classroom.
And showing teachers how you can make the book but also use these
to help teach different aspect of Bahasa Indonesia. |
And in terms of math, we’re helping teachers to look at ways
they can use concrete materials to help develop children’s mathematical
understanding. For examples recently we were doing some activities with
people suitable for grade 1 teachers showing them how you can make simple
scale, balancing scale just by using two containers, the same size, hanging
it on a coat hanger. We can put different things in and compare which
ones are heavier, which ones are lighter. We’re using seeds and
shells and stones and sticks - things that people can easily get without
lots of expense. You just need a little bit of preparation and organization.
We’re also encouraging teachers to display children work around
the room to create their own posters and charts. Displaying them in the
room, labeling them and children then have these around them so that when
they are thinking about mathematical ideas or language ideas they have
texts around them in their environment that they can look at and will
support them with their learning".
| Another excellent development for the project is that
since April 2005 NTT-PEP has produced a radio program called ‘Sahabat
Sekolah’. It is a half-hour radio program in Bahasa Indonesia
and is broadcast through 15 radio stations all over NTT and even as
far away as Makassar.
Dr Tony Austin, the Team Leader of the partnership said that radio
is an important element in distributing information in Flores, as
well as a medium which is most easily-accessed by the community. |
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Bonny Danuatmaja dan Yusup Martyastiadi, both radio
technical officers who have had a lot of experience in the broadcasting
area, said, "Teachers at all levels of education in
NTT are our target audience. However everyone can enjoy Sahabat Sekolah
because it is entertaining, informative and also gender- sensitive.
In Sahabat Sekolah you can enjoy segments such as an NTT-PEP activities
report, school visit, children’s program, radio drama, learning
local language through song and quiz. Through Sahabat Sekolah we hope
that NTT-PEP and education in Flores can have a major impact in socializing
and publicizing the educational reforms being supported by the Partnership. |
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