Seeing students gain self-esteem is reward enough

Seeing students gain self-esteem is reward enough

By Dini S. Djalal

Jakarta (JP): Today is teachers day. To the sound of the classroom bell, students will give thanks to their instructors, and tutors will congratulate each other on surviving yet another day. And among the glad-handing, these teachers may contemplate what life without teaching, and teachers, would be like.

Perhaps some of the female teachers will think about why they became teachers, what teaching means to women, and vice versa.

Job scarcity in Indonesia means a more balanced proportion of men to women in education than in more developed countries, but here, teaching is still regarded as women's work. Nurturing, sympathetic, and assiduous are words commonly used to describe housewives and mothers; they also often precede descriptions of teachers.

"Women are more patient, more meticulous. These traits are more inherent in women than men, who are more practical," said Otty Nuryaiti, a teacher at SMP 68 in South Jakarta.

Nuryaiti has been teaching for 17 years. At this school, where she teaches English, there are 48 teachers for the 1000 students. Thirty of the teachers are women.

At Al-Izhar's kindergarten and elementary school in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, women are more visible than men -- indication that, as in most schools and universities in Indonesia and abroad, men are heading the institutions while women run the classrooms.

The disparity is a reflection of the general labor divisions in Indonesia, where women make up more than half of the labor force but only 5 percent of employers, where just 58 women sit among the House's 500 members.

The balance of power in the world of education and general employment remains tilted, but the situation today is a vast improvement from colonial times. Women have come a long way from 95 years ago, when Raden Ajeng Kartini, widely regarded as Indonesia's first campaigner for women's rights, struggled to obtain an education equal to her brothers.

Working to improve her education and that of other housebound aristocratic Javanese women, Kartini set up a small elementary school for children in her home district of Jepara, an achievement for that time.

In the years following her death -- Kartini died after childbirth -- education has been the focus of Indonesia's women's movement. It's 70 years since the first Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani) campaigned for the establishment of schools for girls.

And it's 60 years since freedom fighter H.R. Rasuna Said established in Sumatra women teachers' colleges, and Kowani's second congress waged a war against the high illiteracy rates among women.

Has the war been won? Not quite. In 1984, 8 million women, or 4 percent of the population, remained illiterate, and in 1996, women still comprise the majority of Indonesia's 20.8 million illiterate.

Illiteracy

More importantly, curtailing illiteracy does not necessarily result in an educated population. Most younger women now complete the compulsory elementary schooling, but cannot afford further education, thus limiting their work opportunities beyond manual labor.

And surprisingly, women who are highly educated -- often due to affluence rather than educational achievements -- would rather forego employment than accept work below their status.

Statistics state that 11 percent of urban educated women are self-employed.

Other educated women opt to work in sectors regarded as complementary to women's so-called nurturing and meticulous nature, such as nursing, secretarial work and teaching, due to tacit encouragement from their families and society.

Former minister of education and culture Sjaret Thajeb, for example, once called on women "To increase their participation in modernization and development in those fields appropriate to their nature and biology," that is, social work.

The call was heeded -- more than half of graduates from education and health education are women.

Women teachers, however, are rightly proud of their profession. Ida Chandrawati Noviar, a kindergarten teacher at Al- Izhar who once aspired to being a policewoman, said that teachers have a great responsibility in shaping the hopes and values of the next generation, and that watching her students obtain self- esteem is reward enough.

"A teacher's voice is so important in boosting a child's spirit, even when they're young. When I see a child who's not sure of himself or herself, I try to improve their confidence," said Ida.

And while inequality continues in the world outside, in the classroom, a teacher can ensure that her students are treated, and treat each other, more fairly.

"We never differentiate our teaching, we say to the children that the doors to success are open for everyone," said Ida.

For example, she tells her students to explore all kinds of activities, encouraging girls to build with building blocks and boys to play household games, "because one day, they will be fathers too," she said.

Otty Nuryaiti agrees that the curriculum and expectations are not, or at least should not, be gender-specific. "I want all my students to succeed, regardless of whether they're boys or girls, because I feel they are all my kids," said Otty.

What are changing are stereotypes, which persist but are continually challenged by reality, said Otty. "We thought boys were smarter, but now we see that boys are more lazy, and that girls are becoming better at school because they are more diligent," said Otty.

And stereotypical notions of girls being more submissive and reticent often fall apart in the classroom. "There are as many shy boys as shy girls, it depends on how a teacher encourages them," said Ida.

Otty added that differences exist not in how students behave towards one another, or how teachers treat their students, but in how the students react to their teachers. "Girl students," said Otty, "are often more manja (coy) with male teachers, and less so with me."

That female students would apply so-called feminine wiles in the classroom is unsurprising in a society where all women are expected to aspire to motherhood. Students may receive equal education and encouragement, but in both private and public schools, Islamic or Christian, female students are reminded of their responsibilities in safeguarding the institution of the family. "We treat all our children equally," said Ida, "but we remind the girls of their kodrat (destiny).

"We encourage them that even if they become leaders in the professional world, they must not forget their duties at home."