Signing of MOU in Magelang

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Magelang district and the MBE took place on 2 August 2005 at Puri Asri, Magelang, during an Education Mapping Workshop. The local government was represented by the Walikota (Mayor), the head of the local parliament and the head of the education office. Their attendance was evidence of the whole-hearted commitment from stakeholders to implement the MBE Program in their town.

Alternative Learning Resources In Magelang

PAKEM training was held in Magelang municipality, from 19 - 21 September 2005 for North Magelang Sub-district and from 22 - 24 September 2005 for South Magelang. It was designed to build on the existing momentum. Consultants from the MBE Team in Jakarta attended the training and were asked to speak. A local resource person, Bpk Faisal, a tour guide of the Indonesian Guides Association from Borobudur Temple, got the interest of the participants.

Bpk Faisal gave a brief explanation about the Borobudur Temple and then each participant had to write questions on pieces of different colored paper about the past, present, and future of the Borobudur Temple. Out of these questions, the best ones were selected from the school groups to be presented to the speaker. Bpk Prima Setiawan (MBE consultant) became a Guest Speaker during the PAKEM teaching practice at SD Rejo Selatan 2.

In grade 6 he talked about Thailand which has geographical and social similarities with Indonesia, but which, through hard work and persistence, has succeeded in becoming self-supporting in rice and essential food crops. Thailand's tourism is well-developed, and their economy is better developed than Indonesia's. The teacher asked each student to prepare written questions about these issues.

From the many individual questions the group decided which ones would be presented to the speaker. At the end of his story the speaker said that we did not have to feel like failures, because God blessed us with similar resources. However, we will have to work hard in order to match Thailand's achievement.

Mrs. Lynne Hill (photo above) from Australia, became an international resource person at the teaching practice session at SMP (Junior High School) 4 in Magelang. During the lesson, the participants let students practice their English by asking a number questions about Australia.

At SD Rejo Selatan 2, students in grade 1 (photo below) were shown how to add and subtract using corn grains,

while at SMP 6 Magelang, in the IPS (Social Science) lesson, students were shown by the teacher doing teaching practice (photo below) how to measure the area of their school yard, then map it on paper using a given scale.

The real learning that was gained from these activities was that there are many different kinds of learning resources. Taking advantage of momentum and capitalizing on opportunities around us such as making use of guest speakers and simple things like corn grains are activities that need be continually developed in schools.

Greatly Increased Community Participation in Ambalresmi

The year 2004-2005 was a historical year for SD Ambalresmi 2. The SD which is headed by Bpk Dunung became a MBE target school. At the time of joining the MBE program the condition of the school was very poor. The buildings were leaking and almost falling down. Since joining the MBE program the condition of the school has been receiving attention.

In 2005 the Kebumen district government provided a budget of Rp.100 million for refurbishment. During the renovation some lessons took place in local homes and also the head of the village's house. Lessons in local residences were mutually beneficial. The schools benefited because they had alternative venues for the teaching, and the community benefited because the school took good care of the cleanliness of the environment.