Teachers provide schooling for remote hamlet

Teachers provide schooling for remote hamlet

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Cilacap, Central Java

The hamlet of Pasuruan in Ujung Alang village in Kampung Laut subdistrict, Cilacap, located adjacent to the notorious Central Java island of Nusakambangan and its maximum security prison, is only a two-hour ride by motorized boat from Cilacap's Seleko Port.

Yet, the hamlet is nothing like the regental capital of Cilacap.

No asphalt roads run through the area, nor do public transportation connect villagers of one village to another. Simple motorized vessels, often rafts made of logs equipped with a diesel engine, are the main mode of transportation for locals.

The neighborhood is no less rustic, with houses mostly built of bamboo, wood or a mixture of the two. The narrow dirt paths that lead from one house to another usually crack during the dry season, and is a slippery mud path during the rainy season.

Still, the local villagers are keen about their children getting an education -- as is their wish to have an elementary school in their neighborhood. It takes at least an hour's walk to the nearest state elementary school in Motean, SDN 01 Ujung Alang, not to mention the grueling journey to reach the school.

"It's really a long, hard walk for an elementary-level child," said a Pasuruan mother of three.

The shorter -- but no less difficult -- way to get to the school is by boat. However, the Rp 4,000 round-trip fare is considered too costly by locals, the majority of whom are farmers or fishermen.

Of course, the commuting fee would rise if a family has more than one child attending school.

Under such conditions, the need for an elementary school in Pasuruan is so great that the villagers have been satisfied with distance-learning classes from SDN 01 Ujung Alang -- even though only a single teacher is available for first, second and third grade.

To accommodate the classes, the villagers built a humble, bamboo shelter of five by nine meters on a plot of land owned by the village council.

"All the materials and the construction were provided voluntarily by the locals," said Sugeng, the founder and teacher of the distance-learning classes in Pasuruan.

Opened in 2001, the program's first grade class has eight students, the second grade has nine students and the third grade has 22 students. Sugeng is responsible for all three, although he said he had never been trained as a teacher.

Sugeng is from Adipala subdistrict in Cilacap, where he still lives with his Pasuruan-born wife, Manisen, and their three children.

Sugeng is a graduate of an Adipala high school, and responded to Pasuruan's educational needs, as no teacher seemed willing to come and teach there. He proposed to teach the distance-learning class from the outset.

"I learned, and am still learning, how to teach a subject by reading the teachers' guides published by the Ministry of National Education, which have been provided by SDN 01 Ujung Alang," said Sugeng.

He added that he had not yet encountered any difficulties in carrying out his job -- mostly because the subjects were relatively basic and uncomplicated.

Initially, with only a single class in the one classroom available, Sugeng started school in the morning. Now, however, as there are three classes and still only one classroom, he had no choice but to stagger the classes: First grade starts at 7 a.m. and finishes at 9 a.m., second grade runs from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and third grade is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

With his civil servant position as teacher's aide, Sugeng receives an honorarium of Rp 300,000 every three months from SDN 01 Ujung Alang, the host school. The students each pay Rp 6,000 to attend the distance-learning class, of which SDN 01 retains Rp 1,000 and Sugeng receives the remainder.

All in all, Sugeng earns Rp 295,000 a month to run the three classes, but he frequently contributes some of this to support operational costs of the school.

"It's not the amount that matters, but providing education for the children," said Sugeng. To help support the family, his wife opened a kiosk at home, selling staple foods and other daily needs.

During the first two years of the distance-learning class, the students did not receive any religious instruction, which is a key component of the national curriculum.

Sugeng said he did not have the capacity to provide such instruction, as he had insufficient knowledge on the subject.

Thanks to a retired religion teacher, Sobari, who formerly taught at an elementary school for children of Nusakambangan prison employees, Pasuruan distance-learning students have been receiving instruction in Islam for the past year -- something their parents had long yearned.

Sobari teaches voluntarily because of the limited space, and holds his class in the afternoon. He supports his family by money made from selling T-shirts and from his pension.

"I consider this my good deed. I hope only for a reward from Allah the Almighty," Sobari said.