JP/6/annisaa
JP/6/annisaa
An-Nisaa builds leadership through spiritual, moral guidance
Chisato Hara
The Jakarta Post/Banten
"Let those ...
Have the same fear in their minds
As they would have for their own
If they had left a helpless family behind:
Let them fear God ..."
-- The Holy Koran, An'Nisaa: 9, A. Yusuf Ali trans.
Brilliant white buildings with turquoise trim rise behind the
small auto service shops that crowd Jl. Raya Jombang in Bintaro,
Banten. The spacious and cool halls inside ring with the animated
voices and laughter of children.
This is the Yayasan Pendidikan Islam Ibuku (The "My Mother"
Islamic Education Foundation) An-Nisaa, the brainchild of
husband-wife founders Rasyid Izada and Rosfia Rasyid.
The school was established in 1995, initially as a
kindergarten with only 22 students. Ten years later, its
reputation spreading by word-of-mouth, An-Nisaa has expanded to a
student body of 840 and offers preschool to junior high school
education.
"I was approaching retirement in 1995 when I saw a moral and
spiritual crisis brewing in society," said Rasyid, formerly an
economist with Bank Indonesia.
"It was a crisis caused by those in the upper echelons seeking
power, money and personal wealth without guilt, shame nor moral
reflection, and it aroused in me a great concern as to what will
be the future of Indonesia. What would the national condition be
in 10, 20, 30 years?
"The condition then was so far from the example set forth by
our founding fathers, I was compelled to correct it, to do
something of national value. But what?"
Rasyid homed in on education as the means to instill the
spiritual and moral values necessary to generate true leaders,
and in consultation with his wife Rosfia, a life-long educator,
they decided to open a kindergarten.
"By university or senior high school, a student's character is
already set -- we realized we had to start at a young age, during
their formative years," he said.
Formerly a senior high school teacher at the renowned Pangudi
Luhur Catholic boys school and an informal religious advisor who
provides dakwa -- real-life applications of the Koranic text --
Rosfia obtained a certificate in toddler and childhood education
in preparation for the school.
"We had a plan, but now, what to name the school?" said
Rasyid.
Rasyid wanted to build the school in memory of his mother,
whom he had lost when he was but five or six months old, so An-
Nisaa -- taken from the Koranic Letter of An'nisaa, which
expounds on the attributes and behavior of women -- was the only
apt choice.
"We wanted to give students a spiritual and moral foundation.
And the moral spine of a family is typically the mother, who is
the closest to the children and has the most influence on them
through daily interaction," he said.
The school logo also stands testament to this ideal, with a
silhouette of a mother figure leading a daughter and a son to a
mosque -- which had a historical role as the center of the
community, with governmental, social and educational functions.
While An-Nisaa is an Islamic school, Rasyid is careful to
underline that it is not a religious school.
"Our mission is to provide students with the skills they need
to survive in the world and succeed as individuals and so lead
others," he said. "Our motto is that it is a sin to leave the
next generation without education, without moral values."
An-Nisaa is based on select components of the national
curriculum and employs the active learning method, monitoring the
students' development through the intelligence, emotional,
spiritual and adversity quotients. The last is a measure of an
individual's ability to face challenges as opportunities.
Its teachers are also expected to be role models by applying
the values they teach. With classes kept small -- junior high
classes have a teacher-student ratio of 1:24 with a target of
1:17 -- teachers are able to provide individual attention to
their students.
"We have also incorporated the Living Values Activities
educational series to teach universal values," said Rosfia, such
as appreciating all living things, basic hygiene and being kind
to others.
One unique program at An-Nisaa is the Orientasi Dunia Kerja
(ODK, orientation to the world of work), a work experience
program under which students and supervising teachers spend three
days in a particular field, getting hands-on experience in what
"working for a living" entails. Previous programs have taken
students to the "classrooms" of rice paddies, factories and
bookstores.
The school also has a cultural week that provides a platform
for cultural exchange through joint activities between An-Nisaa
and foreign schools.
"Just recently, our students took part in JJS' weekend camp
and enjoyed it very much," said Rasyid, referring to the Jakarta
Japanese School. "They get along like peers, and you can see
their sense of self-worth grow as they realize they are equals,
that people are the same everywhere in the world."
"Some of our students explained what we mean when we say
Assalaamu'alaikum in greeting -- 'God bless you' -- and it is
this kind of exchange that is the first step to understanding."
Parents are also an active part of the school, participating
in field trips, on an ODK program and other events, and the An-
Nisaa's distinct teal uniforms were designed by the parent-
teacher association.
An-Nisaa is preparing to send off its first graduating class
-- and some of the students have been at the school since the day
it opened its doors -- with anticipation and anxiety. Most
graduates are expected to enter private or national-plus senior
high schools in Jakarta, but this is no easy task for non-Jakarta
students, as many top-notch schools in the capital have a 5
percent enrollment quota for students from "outside".
Opening a senior high school is still out of reach, but the
great hope is that An-Nisaa's students will carry their knowledge
with them and pass this on to the following generations.
As Rasyid said, "We hope we have been able to provide them
with the building blocks to true leadership, the kind needed to
stand up for one's beliefs, have faith in their rights as human
beings and in so doing, to lead the nation."