SITUBONDO: PAKEM in SDS Muhammadiyah, Panarukan

The displays you can see in the pictures above are not merely displays of children's work but also serve as a source of learning which inspire creativity and innovation from the students. You can see the students actively carrying out their learning tasks in class. Using PAKEM they do not just sit in groups, rather they become really active under the direction of the teacher as class manager.

From the picture on the right you can see that in this classroom teacher is not the sole source of information. The children use other sources besides the teacher. The teacher does not dominate the class. Rather he or she super-vises and directs the students' activities.

Different Ways to the Same Destination

Education is not just the responsibility of the govern-ment. Responsibility is shared by the community, parents and everyone who is concerned about the progress of education. These ideas have been put into effect in districts including Situbondo.

An MBE District Program Review took place on 2 June 2006 in the meeting hall in the District Education Office. The aim of the activity was to make plans, and to discuss progress and problems faced by the MBE program at district and school level, as well as to develop a strategy to advance education in the district of Situbondo.

A cross section of stakeholders gathered and stated their commitment to the progress and development of education in the future. This activity will be followed up by implementing the follow-up plans agreed at the meeting.

PURWOREJO: PAKEM Laboratory at Non MBE school

Ibu Suhartati, a Grade 5 teacher at SD Wirotaman, Kutoarjo sub-district is very enthusiastic about applying PAKEM following training organized by MBE in Purworejo district.

Ibu Suhartati is one of the five participants invited from non MBE schools to take part in the training. Even though she is not in an MBE school, she has a high level of enthusiasm and commitment to applying PAKEM.

Whenever the training is finished, she always tells the school principal of SD Wirotaman (Bpk Suyono) about what she has learnt.

The school principal at Wirotaman is very proud, because the teachers are always very pleased with what they learn from taking part in MBE activities. Not just that, the school principal also applies what Ibu Suhartati tells him about school based management and community participation. Now the school development plan and school budgets are displayed openly in the school, so that whoever wants to, can see them when they visit SD Wirotaman.

The school principal (Bpk Suyono) is very supportive of and even helps design PAKEM activities in grade 5. This class is a model for other classes. With guidance from the school supervisors in Kutoarjo, Ibu Wahyu Heniwati and Bpk Kamin, grade 5 is continuing to make good progress and is a shining example of PAKEM teaching models.

The school supervisors quite often model lessons for the teachers to watch. And vice versa, the teachers are also observed by the supervisors and other teachers while they are teaching. As a result of these observation sessions they get a lot of advice about how to improve the teaching learning processes.

SEMARANG: Schools Learning from Each Other

To learn about school based management, PAKEM and community participation it is not necessary to go out of the district. The MBE and non MBE schools in Pringapus sub-district have made study visits to SDN Bandungan 1 and SDN Mlilir 2.

During the visits the participants were divided into three groups, one each for SBM, PAKEM and community participation. During the visit to SDN Bandungan 1, which only became an MBE school in March 2006, the participants learned a great deal about PAKEM and in SDN Mlilir 2 they learned a lot about community participation especially parents class groups.