Teacher shares joy with three generations<\/p>\n
By Ati Nurbaiti<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): One morning at a kindergarten, children stepped
\ngleefully across a long wooden block. Teachers then raised the
\nblock a few inches higher on its supporting benches and the
\nlittle ones spotted a happy challenge -- all except one.<\/p>\n
\"The little girl was barely in the middle of the block when
\nshe turned pale,\" narrated Ibu Kasur, a life-long educator of
\nunder five-year-olds.<\/p>\n
\"Her baby-sitter started pinching and scolding her, pointing
\nto all the other kids who had conquered the block. I rushed to
\nstop the woman.\"<\/p>\n
The child's body was cold and Kasur, whose four kindergartens
\nhave an enrollment of 600 children, sensed trouble. After school
\nshe was busy summoning and coaxing busy, unbelieving parents,
\nconsulting the school's psychologists and maintaining the child's
\nself-confidence.<\/p>\n
The case is the same with stammering children, hyper-active
\nkids, slow learners and those displaying uncommon talents.<\/p>\n
\"Parents will say the troubled child is perfectly alright at
\nhome with the baby-sitter or maid,\" says Kasur.<\/p>\n
\"And I say to them, 'surely you believe me as well as your
\nbaby-sitter. Please come and have a look for yourself.'\"<\/p>\n
Sensing special differences among children and alerting
\nparents, besides creating the most happy learning surroundings a
\nchild could hope for, is part of Kasur's kindergarten education.<\/p>\n
Together with her late husband Suryono, or Pak Kasur (a
\nmisnomer for `Kak Sur,' or Big Brother Sur as earlier children
\ncalled him), Kasur has been a best friend to three generations of
\nIndonesian youngsters. Pak Kasur died on June 26, 1992, at 79.<\/p>\n
While adults in their 50s remember the team as their Scout
\nmasters, eventually Pak and Ibu Kasur focused on three to five-
\nyear-olds. This started when elementary students came with their
\nsmall siblings to Pak Kasur's home on Jl. H. Agus Salim (now Jl.
\nSabang) in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Their home, near rice fields and vegetable plots, was on the
\ngrounds of the Film Censor Board where Pak Kasur worked. In 1957
\nthey moved to nearby Jl. Cikini V\/2, when the site was to being
\ndeveloped into the Sarinah Department Store.<\/p>\n
Growth<\/p>\n
Thirty-seven years later the nursery school continues, along
\nwith three other branches set up under the Yayasan Setia Balita
\nfoundation, in the midst of a tremendous growth in pre-school
\neducation.<\/p>\n
\"I'm so happy that housing complexes now all have
\nkindergartens, it's very important,\" said Kasur. Along with
\nflourishing nursery schools, playgroups have also mushroomed and
\nspecial schools for 18-month-olds are also found in the city.<\/p>\n
Computer and foreign language skills are now part of
\nplay school packages, based on scientific information on the
\nextraordinary range of skills that toddlers can absorb.
\nIndonesian parents are following in the steps of Japanese moms
\nwho have caught onto the message that \"kindergarten is too late\".<\/p>\n
Elementary schools now require entrants to already be able to
\nread, write and even transcribe script ('tulis sambung'). This puts
\nmore pressure on kindergarten teachers.<\/p>\n
This, says Kasur, is inevitable.<\/p>\n
\"Toys now have letters and numbers on them, including the new
\nvideo games,\" she says. \"It would be torture to leave your child
\nout.\"<\/p>\n
But guided by Pak Kasur's principles, Ibu Kasur easily adopts
\nand selects new needs.<\/p>\n
By attaching a character to every letter, like the bald head
\nand fat tummy of a B, and encouraging children to identify sounds
\nof vowels with specific facial gestures, pupils playfully grasp
\ntheir first command of letters and syllables.<\/p>\n
Everything comes with a melody. Singing, Pak Kasur preached,
\nis the backbone of a kindergarten curricula -- aided now with
\nkaraoke technology.<\/p>\n
\"We use anything available to help us,\" says Kasur.<\/p>\n
What about computer skills, English and teaching babies?<\/p>\n
\"I don't understand all that yet,\" said Ibu Kasur, who has
\nlearned everything she does from hands on experience. \"We take
\nchildren who can already talk.\"<\/p>\n
In accordance with government requirements, her teaching
\nrecruits, must at least be graduates of senior high teaching
\nschools.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe those classes (for babies to three-year-olds) are
\nreally needed for children with very busy parents...I'm
\ninterested to know what they teach.\" And if elementary schools
\ntake up computer skills and English, Kasur says she will consider
\nteaching them to her toddlers.<\/p>\n
Right now, she concentrates on supervising the kindergartens
\nin Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, Kemang Pratama in Bekasi, and in
\nCipinang Indah, East Jakarta -- besides the pioneer site in
\nCikini.<\/p>\n
She has had requests to open many more, at least on a
\nfranchise basis. Other well-known kindergartens have branches all
\nover the city and even in other cities. Foreign investors have
\nalso joined the market, working with locals. But Kasur gently
\ndismisses such possibilities.<\/p>\n
\"Pak Kasur was very strict; if a school bears our name we must
\nbe sure it follows our model of teaching. We must be able to
\nattend at least every meaningful event, like graduation and
\nreport presentation days. And I don't have the strength to visit
\nmany sites.\"<\/p>\n
She adds, \"I don't think my name is big enough to be able to
\nmerely hang it up somewhere as a guarantee.\" Quite an
\nunderstatement from a pioneer and recipient of several domestic
\nand foreign awards.<\/p>\n
Four schools, then, is enough. This way all her students and
\ntheir parents share her radiated enthusiasm and joy.<\/p>\n
No wonder she looks at least ten years younger than her 69
\nyears. And nothing like a grandmother of ten boys and girls, the
\nyoungest only two months old.<\/p>\n
Continuity<\/p>\n
\"We still make our own learning tools which people say are
\nprimitive,\" says Kasur. Pak Kasur designed, cut, sawed and
\npainted necessary tools besides purchasing a few. Plastic never
\nfeatured much in their schools -- \"we thought it would be hard to
\ndiscard plastic.\"<\/p>\n
But more important is Kasur's trained sensitivity in bringing
\nup children, now shared with the dozens of teachers she calls \"my
\nmain assets.\"<\/p>\n
Busy parents hoping for teachers to take care of all basics
\nincluding religion to fend off growing pains, may think twice
\nwhen they hear Kasur's priorities.<\/p>\n
\"We leave religion at home...We mainly instill a sense of
\ncompetition and sportiveness among children.\" Knowing one's
\nrights and respecting the rights of others is another mission.<\/p>\n
\"Children will immediately shout when one of their friends
\nsits on the seat with the blue fish when he said he chose the
\nyellow one,\" said Kasur.<\/p>\n
Numerous games and warm compliments boost healthy competition,
\nand Kasur warns against harsh punishments for the young.<\/p>\n
\"The child must not be humiliated,\" she said. \"Telling
\nchildren they won't get their singing turn is punishment enough,
\nthey don't have to be threatened with standing against the wall.\"<\/p>\n
And be flexible, she adds. When an exasperated teacher in
\nIrian Jaya told Kasur she couldn't work without colored paper,
\nKasur told her to use the abundant leaves.<\/p>\n
\"After all, we mean to train the youngster's dexterity, don't
\nwe?\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teacher-shares-joy-with-three-generations-1447893297",
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