MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING ACTIVITIES

Pati: Review Meeting on Finance

As part of the technical assistance in the area of education finance, MBE and Pati District Education Office held a special Review Meeting on the subject. The workshop took place over two days from 8-9 June 2006. The participants included 20 school principals, seven school supervisors, 10 heads of sub-district offices, two representatives of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA), eight from the Education Office as well as representatives from the Education Council, the District Development Agency and the Local Finance Department.

On the first day there were discussions between officials from the education department and the local government about topics to be discussed on the second day, as well as a general review of the MBE program, and its successes and problems. It was agreed to discuss two matters on the second day. They were student unit costs and classifying schools.

BANYUMAS: School Committees Look Inside the Classroom

On 3 April 2006 a workshop took place for school committees in Kebasen Sub-District. One of the activities in the program was a visit to class. School committees were invited to have a look at classes, how the children were learning, and how the teachers were teaching.
The picture on the right shows several members of school committees visiting the class-room of Ibu Margayati, the grade 3 teacher at SDN Bentul, Kebasen.

Bpk Ratal (photo on the right), one of the workshop participants, said that committees should set aside time to visit the classroom so that they know what is going on. The role of committee is not only to supervise the school but it should also act as a partner. Bpk Ratal who is a member of the SDN 2 Kebasen school committee also said that teachers need to behave in a disciplined manner.

School should not only demand that the pupils arrive on time. The teachers should also set an example in this respect. If necessary, teachers and school principals should arrive at school earlier, in time to meet the students arriving in class. He believed that setting an example is more effective than giving a lecture.

Holiday Activities before the New School Year

At the initiative of the Kebasen sub-district facilitators, a workshop for all primary schools (SD and MI) in the sub-district was held from 4 - 6 July to draw up school plans and budgets.

The participants included school principals, teachers and representatives of school committees. By means of this activity it was expected that all the primary schools in Kebasen sub-district would complete a school plan and budget for the 2006-2007 school year. In the picture below the participants assisted by the facilitators are discussing how to draw up the school plans and budgets.

Blitar makes a District Education Plan

This year Blitar district is drawing up a District Education Development Plan (RIPP). The leading sectors in drawing up the plan are the District Development Agency and the District Education Office. The plan not only includes formal education, but also preschool education (play groups and kindergartens) and Islamic boarding schools (pesantren).

Because the education data needed to draw up the plan was incomplete, the process started with data collection by 330 students of the State University of Malang (UM) who were currently doing two months community service in the district. The district education development plan is being made by the Blitar District Government assisted by the university and MBE.

The first meeting took place on 6 June 2006 at the Local Development Agency and was attended by the Head of the Agency, Head of the District Education Office, the Head of the Religious Affairs Office and the leader and members of the local parliament's education committee, the Head of the Teachers Union and NGOs (photo above). MBE was represented by Bpk Toto Purwanto and Bpk Aburrahman Asari and the University of Malang by Bpk Suripan and Bpk Joko Suwanto.

BATU: Multi-Grade Teaching in a Small School

The education office in Batu municipality has introduced multi-grade teaching at SDN Gunungsari 4 in Bumiaji Sub-District. SDN Gunungsari 4 is a small school situated in a remote area (see photo 1, next page). On average there are 9 students per grade (see table on the next page).

The school only has two buildings, one of which contains three classrooms and the other has rooms for the school principal and school office. There are 3 class teachers, 2 sports teachers, one religion teacher and the school principal. The local population is relatively small. They say there are more cows than people in the area.