National Education Day: Inspiration from the Classroom ST SULARTO

National Education Day: Inspiration from the Classroom ST SULARTO May 2, 2016 09:08 GMT+7 Ikon komentar 0 comment(s) Observing May 2, the birthday of Ki Hadjar Dewantara (1889-1959) an influential education figure and the first Indonesian education minister, as National Education Day means treading in his revolutionary footsteps. Students sell homemade snacks to their fellows at state vocational school SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga in Central Java on Friday (29/4/2016). This routine activity helps raise money for their families and trains them in self-reliance. Kompas/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKOStudents sell homemade snacks to their fellows at state vocational school SMK Negeri 2 Salatiga in Central Java on Friday (29/4/2016). This routine activity helps raise money for their families and trains them in self-reliance. With the Tamansiswa Institute, the institutional education he established on July 22, 1922, he created a vehicle to gain independence. It was revolutionary and anti-colonial. Among the many educational institutions established before Indonesia's independence, the Tamansiswa Institute in Yogyakarta was the most prominent. Unfortunately, the name of Ki Hadjar Dewantara has begun to disappear. According to research recently conducted by Ki Tato Darmanto, the chairman of the Tamansiswa Family, of 100 respondents in high schools (SMA) and vocational schools (SMK) only 40 percent knew about Ki Hadjar Dewantara. Of the 40 percent who claimed to know of him, only 10 percent understood about his thoughts. In conclusion, of the 100 respondents, only four people knew about the thoughts of Ki Hadjar Dewantara. Culture and Education Minister Anies Baswedan says that Ki Hadjar established his educational system a century ago, long before the Finnish educational praxis that we always refer to and admire. In addition to Tamansiswa, the other two educational institutions that stand out are Kweekschool (teaching school) Tanobato, North Sumatra, with its leader Willem Iskander (1840-1876), and the National Institute of Syafei (INS) Kayutanam, West Sumatra, with its leader Engku Mohammad Syafei (1893-1969). The three institutions, with their own characters and magnitude, developed the idea of nationality and the right to independence. Therefore, these three schools were described by historian Anhar Gonggong as the ethnical embryo of nationalism that later developed into nationalism. Willem Iskander put forward the ideas of human rights (free from colonialism) and the equal rights between women and men, as well as the abolition of slavery. He was the first to promote the strategic role of the teacher, according to Basyral Harahap - researcher and author of more than 20 books about Willem Iskander. Kweekschool Tanobato was different from the three other teaching schools in the same era, which were located in Bukittinggi, Surakarta, and Bandung. When Ki Hadjar established Tamansiswa - enriched through regular meetings of the Selasa Kliwon Group, its purpose was clear: the antithesis of the Dutch educational praxis, and a spirit of independence as a nation striving for freedom. The attitude and principles were seen in the fight against illegal school ordinances, the efforts made by the invaders to control private schools, which was enacted on October 1, 1932. Identical Ki Hadjar entered the field of education as an accumulation of the struggle to be free from colonization. Education was part of the activities he carried out in addition to journalism and politics. Engku Syafei, from the beginning, had determined and selected the field of education as an important means in fighting for independence. With regard to methods, Tamansiswa, Kweekschool Tanobato and INS Kayutanam were identical. All three put forward education and teaching as part of the process of self-reliance and independence. Willem's educational system was perhaps not as complete as those developed by Ki Hadjar and Engku Syafei. During the era of Willem Iskander, the educational praxis promoted by Kreschensteiner, Montessori, Rabindanath Tagore (which greatly influenced Engku Syafei and Ki Hadjar) did not exist. This education praxis emerged only in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Unlike Willem, who explicitly used prose and poetry as a means to inspire nationalism and independence, Ki Hadjar utilized political parties and journalistic activities in addition to education. Engku Syafei focused on development work as the main asset in promoting the inspiration for freedom, as the rights of the colonized people. The main points were that independence, freedom and dignity were found in their educational ideas, even as a new stream of educational theories. Engku Syafei was known for his idea of the soul, muscle, and hands as the main tools for independence. Daoed Joesoef included education as part of the culture. Driyarkara, meanwhile, called it humanization. Among the three important figures inspiring independence through educational institutions (without excluding the other institutions), with deep thought and combining the new streams of education with the local culture (Java), HAR Tilaar placed Ki Hadjar Dewantara in the same position as Paulo Freire (1921-1997), writer and educational philosopher in his great book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (published in 1969), which was three years later followed by his book, Pedagogy of Hope.