MADIUN: Using Questionnaires and Advice Boxes for Communication

It is important that schools maintain lines of communication with students and parents. Now that schools have been given operational funding by the government in the form of the BOS, many schools have difficulties in communicating with the parents through meetings with the committee, as was previously done, because funding from the BOS cannot be used for this purpose.

Schools in Madiun have also been forbidden to require the community to make financial contributions. So schools have had to think of ways of maintaining communications with parents. At SMPN Madiun they have done this using questionnaires and advice boxes.

1. Questionnaires to Change the School Budget The organizers of the school committee had the idea of sending out a letter and questionnaire together with a draft of the school budget, because the school was unable to hold a parents' meeting with the committee. The documents included: A financial report for the school year 2005/ 2006 A work program for the year 2006/ 2007 The main points included in the documents were: An expression of thanks and a request for forgiveness A sheet to be filled in agreeing to voluntary contributions to the school committee of up to Rp. 25,000.- A request for advice and inputs on how to raise the quality of education in school. After the answers to the questions were collated, discussions took place between the school and the school committee to change the school budget. The budget was confirmed and then displayed on a special School Committee Information notice board. So far SMPN 6 Madiun has already made two revisions to the school budget, partly to incurporate increases in BOS funding in January 2007. Meeting of the School Committee and the school with everyone hard at work!

2. An Advice Box to Improve Teacher Performance

An advice box has been set up at the main entrance to SMPN 6 Madiun. Advice or complaints received in this box are used by the school principal as feedback to the teachers during teachers working group (MGMP) meetings at the school. Using this advice box, the activities of the school can be monitored and complaints from the students can be dealt with quickly.

Several times the school principal has been able to give timely advice to teachers as a result of information received through the advice box. Usually after the information from the advice box has been read by the school principal together with the teaching staff, they check and recheck to make sure problems have been dealt with. In this way all points of view are taken into account when dealing with problems and a just solution is reached for all parties.

(By SA Winarno, MBE Facilitator and School Principal of SMPN 6 Madiun)

PURBALINGGA: Parliament Visits MBE Schools

Following the MBE District Review Meeting in Purbalingga on 16 November 2006, members of the local parliament made a working visit to all the MBE partner schools in the district between 7 and 9 January 2007.

The members of the parliament, led by Bpk Mustangin Ketua, the Head of the Education Committee, accompanied by the Head of the Purbalingga District Education Office, were able to witness directly the progress achieved by the MBE schools in the areas of management, teaching and learning and community participation.

In the MBE schools the parliament members asked questions of the students, teachers and members of the parents group about various aspects of MBE. In general the parliament members were very satisfied with the progress made by the MBE schools. They also promised to follow up on the conclusions and recommendations of the District Review Meeting.

NGANJUK: Facilitators Definitely Belong to the Community and District

The role of the District Facilitators, which was restricted at the start to helping only the MBE partner schools, has now become much wider. This is shown by their involvement in various educational activities in Nganjuk District.

The activities are organized by the education office in Nganjuk, which recognizes that the facilitators are a valuable asset and belong to the district. Teacher professional development activities organized recently by the Head of the Junior Secondary Schools Section of the Education Office is one example of their use.

The facilitators were involved, together with the MGMP instruct-tors, in running the activities. Other activities include training in SBM, community participation and PAKEM for ten subdistricts, using funds from the Education Office district budget and training for teachers in PAKEM organized by the Nganjuk District Personnel Office.

Several facilitators have even been involved in activities to introduce PAKEM in subdistricts other than those assisted by MBE and have also become instructors in school syllabus development training, organized by subdistrict education offices. Another small example occurred when a number of facilitators were selected to become members of juries to judge various competitions in connection with National Children's Day.

Let us hope that this valuable support, especially from the District Education Office, will continue, even though the MBE program in Nganjuk is due to finish soon.