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."