Students learn straight from nature

Badri Jawara, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

Loud voices reciting the alphabet usually come out of formal schools. But in Bulan, an area in Ampana Tete district in Poso regency, the voices emerge from a clump of trees and bushes.

With no school uniforms and shoes, many children between six and 12 years of age sit in groups under the trees to study. They are full of enthusiasm, do not mind sitting on a bamboo floor or pandanus mats. This particular form of education is witnessed only in Mpoa, Bulan.

The lessons were initiated four years ago by the Merah Putih Palu Foundation in response to local people's need of education for their children. At that time, the only local elementary school was in a resettlement area -- which is a four-hour walk through a thick forest. If you walk from Tau Ta'a village, which is a little farther from Mpoa, it could take a full day.

Called a village school, the idea to start these lessons came from the Tau Ta'a, the indigenous ethnic group of Ta'a in Bulan. The Tau Ta'a are one of a number of ethnic groups indigenous to Central Sulawesi who are at home living in the jungle and hinterland of Morowali, Poso and Banggai regencies.

Development has not touched the Tau Ta'a. The local residents and their ancestors have been living in the village for centuries. In the village, which is led by a customary elder, the road is not yet paved and there is an absence of health facilities.

Moreover, there are 271 Tau Ta'a school-age children in Bulan who have never attended a formal school, while only a few adults in the village can read and write.

These people are not careful about their clothes. They usually wear traditional dress made of tree bark. They depend on the forest, while some have learned to plant rice.

The only teacher at this open-air school is Wahyuddin AR. Lamasitudju, a YMMP community organizer who is usually called Dikdik by his pupils.

While teaching, Dikdik uses nature both as the "classroom" and a visual aid. For instance, to teach pupils about the letter A, he asks his pupils to collect items from the forest which begin with A in the Ta'a language. Then, using this method, he not only teaches the pupils about the alphabet but also familiarize them with the Indonesian language by translating the chosen items' names into Indonesian.

For mathematics, Dikdik asks his pupils to count how many brothers or sisters they have. They must also be able to count the head of cattle or plants and trees around their houses and in the forest. The pupils carry with them various visual aids for calculating, for example, stones, ribs of palm sugar leaf and twigs.

Apart from Dikdik, the other "teachers" are the pupils themselves or their parents.

Usually their parents tell the pupils which grass and leaves are good for medicinal purposes and also how to concoct these herbal medicines. Then the pupils also learn from their parents how to plant rice or how to collect latex, a natural resource which has become the village's prime commodity.

"This is what we mean by a village school. There are no classrooms to separate them from one another, nor a strange curriculum. These pupils can study anywhere, in their stilt houses, in the fields or in a thick forest. They study while playing," said Nasution Tjamang, YMPP executive director.

The foundation realizes, however, that there are still a few shortcomings in the school which need further evaluation to ensure the application of the right model for the school.

Before starting the school, the foundation explored 11 areas on the border of three regencies (Morowali, Poso and Banggai) where indigenous people live. It turns out these that areas have seen no development at all. Education is something of a dream for school-age children, especially those living in the most remote villages like Kayu Marangka or Salumangge, which can only be reached by foot, making most university graduate teachers reluctant to go there.

For the foundation itself, starting the school was not easy. According to Nasution, the foundation had to work hard to find enough reading books.

"We just collect what we can, plus we get help from groups concerned with this matter," he said.

The encouraging thing is, according to Nasution, the result of this simple learning method is no worse compared to the formal one. One of the pupils, came first in a test that he took part in at the formal elementary school in Bulan Jaya resettlement post.

Still, it is too early to judge this school, which breaks the rules of formal education and adapts the learning process to the needs of local residents. But at least the foundation did something.