SMPN 1 Pacitan at a Glance

SMP 1 Pacitan was built 58 years ago, in September 1946. Located in the middle of the small town of Pacitan (Jl. A. Yani 41), this school has 1,312 students that are divided into 30 classes, with a total of 86 teachers and 14 administration staff. As the oldest school in the district it is no wonder that it is often the standard by which other schools are measured and it is the preferred destination for primary school students in the area. In almost all competitions, whether in the academic field, the arts, sports or religion, they get good results. The latest achievement of which they are proud is that one of the students was sent to the Physics Olympiad at the national level in Riau.

In order to improve the quality of education at SMPN 1 Pacitan, and in particular to support the 2004 competency based curriculum (KBK), PAKEM training was conducted at their own cost for all the SMPN 1 teachers, and teachers from 4 other schools from the 30 July to 1 August 2004. Earlier SMPN 1 had given PAKEM training to non-target schools, but only to 5 teachers, the principal and a representative of the School Committee from each school. The public, business community, and for-mer students, include-ing the district head (Bupati), fully sup-ported the activity by providing materials, money, the use of the facilities and publica-tions

The MBE program assisted with the attendance of 3 national facilitators (Bpk Asari, Bpk Najid and Bpk Supriyono Koes) and a foreign consultant (Lynne Hill). The teachers are hoping for further such training. As a result we hope that SMPN 1 Pacitan especially and the Pacitan district in general will produce more leaders, to follow the example of the President of Indonesia, SBY, who was a graduate from SMPN 1 Pacitan in 1964.

SDN Tangkil 1, Wlingi, Blitar

Bpk Izul Marom, Section Head for Student Affairs in Blitar District Education Office is pictured below (centre photo No. 1) with grade 1 teacher, Ibu Wening from SD Tangkil 1 (right photo No. 1) and primary school supervisor, Ibu Marijati (left photo No. 1). SDN Tangkil 1 is showing continuing progress in SBM, community participation and PAKEM and they showed a high level of enthusiasm during our visit. Teachers, parents and students played in a band (Kulintang), accom-panied by school principal Ibu Sri Sumarti, who sang (photo No. 2). The students' drawings (photo No. 3) were also very impressive.

Balerejo Village has an Idea!

One of the aims of MBE is to increase the efficiency of the use of educational resources. The school mapping and data collection in the target sub-districts supports this aim. Below is a interesting story from Blitar which demonstrates its potential.

SDN Balerejo 1 is an MBE target school in Wlingi subdistrict, Blitar, which is located in the hills. They have started implementing SBM and PAKEM. The principal, Bpk Sujiono with several of the grade 6 students is pictured on the right. SDN Balerejo 1 (photo below) has 105 students and SDN Balerejo 2 which is located aproximately 500 m from SDN Balerejo 1 has 90 students.

Because the distance from Balerejo village to the closest junior secondary school in Wlingi is 15 km, 100 students study at an Open Junior Secondary School which is run in the afternoons in the SDN Balarejo 1 building using teachers from SMP 1 Wlingi.

Balerejo village has an idea for improving its education services. They have proposed to the sub-district education office that SDN 1 and SDN 2 Balerejo should be merged into one primary school as they are close to each other and the number of students is relatively low.

Further, they have suggested that one of the schools becomes a junior secondary school. Also, because of the shortage of teachers in other schools in Wlingi, the excess teachers from the combined schools could be moved to other schools that have shortage of teachers. These schools and the village are proving proactive in developing education.

Innovation at SDN Ploso 1 Pacitan - A Worthy Example

Another example of innovation is SDN Ploso 1 in Pacitan district that has increased its performance in several ways. One innovation is in the area of school and community training especially for the school committee and the parents group which have joined together to form a Forpempesdik (Forum for Learning Quality Enhancement).

The program was created by the principal and MBE facilatator, Bpk Muhtarudin. During the three days training the participants were very enthusiastic. Among the most important remarks heard was "I understand better many of the school's problems and realize the importance of different people's roles in the improving the quality of education".

It is inarguable that the role of the community is very important to the success of the school. Communication between the various stakeholders in a school, as in the case of SDN 1 Ploso, is essential. Will other schools follow the example of SDN Ploso 1?