|
Education in Indonesia
By Poonam Sagar
 |
Traditionally education has been thought of as a one way process wherein educators instructed or 'taught' students, but this has now given way to the belief that an educators role is to facilitate the blossoming of the child into a well rounded individual - as Mahatama Gandhi said "by education, I mean drawing out the best in mind, body, and soul." And who knows this better than Mr AP Singh, principal of Gandhi Memorial International School in Jakarta. Mr AP Singh moved to Jakarta in 1994 as a PE teacher and with his zest and zeal was soon appointed as the principal of GMIS. |
This same year he brought in sweeping reforms with a new professionalism in teaching standards and introduction to IB certification. Affiliation to IBO offers Diploma program and Middle Years Program, P.Y.P. |
The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is a recognized leader in the field of international education, encouraging students to be active learners, well-rounded individuals and engaged world citizens. The introduction of the PYP was initially met with great resistance from students and teachers. Parents complained that their children were being used as guinea pigs in the educational experiment being conducted by Mr Singh and teachers needed to upgrade skills and relook at their teaching methods. His decision was supported by the school board which appauled his efforts to bring about this change. However, these were merely teething troubles and the school now boasts of 80 students this year to be certified by IB from the just one in 1995.
GMIS, according to Mr Singh, is based on Gandhiji's principles and values and encourages all students to uphold the same. As Haim Ginott in 1975 said that teachers are the decisive elements in the classroom and have the tremendous power to make a child miserable or joyous, so also Mr Singh sets the mood for the school day with his short talks during assembly. Teachers and he as a principal have to constantly be in the learning mode to keep up with the information explosion. Professional development is a major part of all the educators. He encourages teachers to be more receptive to the students and collaboratively look for answers and solutions in keeping with the new philosphy on education.
Sports is an important part of the school curriculum and GMIS are leading cricket team in Jakarta. This may well stem from Mr Singh's early success as the national pair skating champion, 4 years consecutively, while he was still 18 years old. He then moved to education as he felt that sports would have been the ideal choice for a career in India. With his long and extensive career in the feild of education, his other career options he feels might have been as a journalist or a reporter. His interest and reading and being grounded enables him to manage his stress despite the high pressure of being a principal of GMIS.
The talk with Mr Singh was illuminating gave a glimpse of education from his perspective as well as further appreciate the commitment of the teachers.
|
