Deputy Minister: Student Councils Serve as Miniature of Society

Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education (Wamendikdasmen) Atip Latipulhayat has stressed the important role of the Student Council (OSIS) as a miniature of society and a means of training students in deliberation. He conveyed this emphasis while inspecting the first day of the Friendly School Environment Introduction Period (MPLS) at SMPN 57 Central Jakarta on Monday. He assessed that participation in the OSIS not only helps students become more familiar with the school environment, teachers, and education staff, but can also serve as a medium for practising community life and deliberation, as part of the 7 Habits of Great Indonesian Children (KAIH). “So, all of you will later join OSIS activities as a miniature, a small form of community life. As social beings, everyone must learn about community life from the beginning,” Atip said. On that occasion, he also proposed the importance of reading at least one book per week to foster students’ reading interest and literacy. “Perhaps this has already been implemented at SMPN 57 Jakarta, hopefully it has. I suggest that every Monday, for example, all students should borrow a book from the library. For those who finish reading one book in a day, they may borrow another. At a minimum, one book should be finished per week,” he said. He added that teachers could later create a session with a storytelling concept as a platform for students to present or retell the results of their reading. “Later, there might be a kind of storytelling session. So, the students will convey what they have read. So, it will be mandatory to finish reading at least one book per week,” Atip said.