Conny Semiawan, the true teacher

Conny Semiawan, the true teacher

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

Listening is important, but too much emphasis on listening and not enough practical experience can have a negative effect on the behavioral development of children.

Education expert and professor at Jakarta State University Conny Riouwskina Semiawan Stamboel says, without interaction, "students become passive, there is nothing to stimulate their curiosity."

The poor education system here has much to do with the lack of funds and the lack of professional teachers. According to Conny, less than 40 percent of elementary school teachers in the country are actually qualified.

It would be a mistake to assume that such problems are confined to regional areas. There are also a large number of unqualified teachers in the capital.

"There is even a gap in the quality of schools in South Jakarta and those in North Jakarta," she said.

Conny will receive the Hamengubuwono IX Award at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University on Dec. 19, to mark the university's 54th anniversary. Former minister of the environment Emil Salim will also be a recipient of the award. While her list of accomplishments is long and the award seems well-earned, Conny prefers to stay out of the limelight. She is a reluctant interviewee and says she is happy about the award, but for the sake of her institute only. She was formerly rector of the Jakarta Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) (now Jakarta State University) from 1984 to 1992, after which she held a number of important positions: She was a member of the National Accreditation Board of Higher Education (1992-2003); head of the Commission of the Education Science Discipline at the Ministry of National Education (1999- 2002); and a consultant with the World Bank's project for the education of elementary school teachers (1992-1999)

Conny is an emeritus professor, but teaches post-graduate students at the Jakarta State University, the University of Indonesia and the Trisakti University. She is also an active member of many organizations, including the National Research Institute and the Indonesian Music Foundation.

"I like playing piano. I love classical music, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin.," said Conny, once a piano teacher too.

Born in 1930 in the town of Madiun, East Java, she was taught to play the piano by her mother, who also taught her French. Her father, M. Stamboel, was a respected doctor and a health official during the Dutch colonial era. He took an active part in the establishment of Boedi Oetomo youth organization (a pioneer organization that led the political struggle against the ruling colonial administration).

Conny went to a Dutch elementary school. But before she had completed her education there, the Japanese took power. The school was closed down and she was enrolled at Sekolah Rakyat (literally the people's school). Most of the students there were poor.

"I went to school wearing shoes and dressed neatly with a ribbon in my hair, while many of the other students were barefoot and had fleas in their hair. They teased me, saying that I was a Dutch girl who had tried to become like the Javanese," Conny, the youngest of five siblings, recalled.

The little girl returned home crying, but her father told her that she should try to understand the situation.

"He told me that the people now had a chance to go to school and to move forward. He told me about the concept of education for all. And at the age of 11, I became 'mature'," Conny said.

Her father's words remain vivid even in adulthood. In a way he had influenced her future career.

"When I was still a little girl, I played at being a teacher. After school I was the teacher, my housemaids the students. I taught them to read and to write," said Connie, adding that she learned how to teach from her mother.

Connie graduated from the school of education, University of Indonesia, in 1962 and got her masters degree in rehabilitation counseling from IKIP Jakarta, in 1978.

She did not study overseas because she wanted to be with her children.

"I couldn't do that. I have seven children," she said, adding that she breast-fed all of them, even though she was busy teaching.

In 1975, when her youngest child was five years old, she accepted the Dutch government's invitation to study there for a few months. The following year, USAID gave her the chance to take a short-course in guidance counseling.

Educating children is Conny's passion. In the 1950s, she helped establish 11 kindergartens in Bandung, West Java. From 1967 to 1977 she was the driving force behind the establishment of a special school for disabled children in Medan, North Sumatra.

She is also concerned about the way in which gifted children are educated here. Many highly intelligent or talented children become underachievers, she says, as their teachers do not know how to deal with them.

As a mother and an educator, Conny is well aware of the importance of sex education. In 1989 she co-edited the controversial Adik Baru (New Sibling), a book to explain sex to children. The book was banned here, despite its relatively standard content.

Times have changed, there is more freedom of expression, but the ban remains. But for her own reasons Conny chooses not to comment on the book.