FROM THE NEW MBE DISTRICTS.....

Creativity in Batu
SD Punten 1, Punten Subdistrict
SD Punten consists of two merged primary schools which shared the same site. Before and after the merger the number of students fell because parents preferred to send their children to schools in the town of Batu, which were considered of better quality.

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2.	(1.) Ibu Sulasmi the principal of SD Punten 1 (second from left) with teachers and parents. (2.) Class 4 children using nail boards to find the area and perimeter of rectangles.

Since Ibu Sulasmi was appointed as school principal she has worked with her teachers to improve the quality of the teaching, so that slowly but surely the confidence of the local community in sending their children to the school has grown. At present the school, which has 300 pupils and nine teachers (including three volunteer teachers), is making a variety of efforts to raise the quality of its graduates, including:

The English Day: In line with the plans of local government of Batu, which is a popular tourist destination, the schools have agreed that on certain days lessons will take place primarily in English. Of course, this is dependent on the age and ability of the students.

Parents Groups: Parents groups have been formed in certain classes to support the development of facilities and to overcome shortages of resources (teaching aids, books etc.). They started this after seeing similar groups in Probolinggo and adapting them to local circumstances. The School Committee greatly values the assistance of the parents groups because they can help delegate and distribute tasks to each class group.

To support the welfare of the volunteer teachers local government and the school committee are each giving a monetary incentive of Rp.100,000 per month giving a total of Rp.200,000.

SD Beji 1
In 2001 the School Committee (it was at that time called the BP3) of SD Beji 1 sent out a questionnaire as part of a needs assessment to all parents to get inputs from parents as part of drawing up a School Development plan (SDP) and school budget (RAPBS) for the school year 2001-2.

One result was to identify the need to raise the level of English skills which are much needed in a tourist destination such as Batu. The school committee negotiated with the teachers and came up with the idea of giving lessons outside school hours for classes 3 to 6.

They were fortunate that one of the parents was willing to help by teaching classes 3 and 4 once a week without asking for payment, while classes 5 and 6 have to pay a fee to employ an English teacher from a private course in Batu.

SLTP 4 Batu
Most school libraries are underused, but not in SLTP 4 Batu. Lessons often take place in the library. During our visit the library was busy. When children borrow books and are late returning them they have to pay Rp.100. They have already collected enough money to buy a bookcase and new books.

Innovation in Kebumen District
Community Participation
At the beginning of the Bupati's period in office in 2001 3 school buildings collapsed at the same time and dozens of others were in a dangerous condition. The community and education stakeholders asked for the schools to be rebuilt as quickly as possible.

With limited finance available, local government was able only to give Rp.3.2 billion, or about 20% of what was needed. The Bupati and her colleagues took the initiative of opening the local government accounts to examination by the local community.

The community was invited to participate in school building (the priority was to build new classroom to replace those which had collapsed) by giving partial funding as a stimulant to the villages where the schools needed rebuilding. At first the Bupati was doubtful about what the result would be, since local communities always asked for funds to repair their schools, but by going directly to the villages and explaining the situation to them, she determined that the communities were very keen to participate.

With the Rp.3.2 funding to stimulate local participation communities contributed Rp.12 billion so that the whole classroom construction program totalled Rp.15.2 billion. Community participation contributed almost 80% of the total cost, something which would have been unlikely to happen in the past.

In view of the wide level of support the Bupati issued a decree that all building of classroom is to be carried out through village governments, and should include the village head, school principal, school committee, and parents. The total funding allocated was Rp.5 million in 2001 and has risen to Rp.8 million this year, 2004.

Interactive Broadcast
Every morning at 05.45, except when she is on duties out of town, the Bupati heads for the Ratih radio and television stations (both owned by the local government) to do an interactive broadcast with the community of Kebumen.

The topics for discussion are planned according to current priorities, but all the agencies of local government involved have to be on standby to help the Bupati answer technical questions. Questions can be asked directly by telephone, SMS or e-mail.

The education sector is included in the programs. Many of the questions are fairly direct, for example, complaints about deliveries of books to schools which are not relevant - in the end local government returned the books.