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“I want to be like coffee beans, not carrots or eggs,” said Sri Aswati, District Trainer for Civics Education in Sidoarjo, East Java. On her old motor cycle, this teacher of SMP 1 Sedati Sidoarjo pays regular visits to teachers and schools located in Sidoarjo.
“I want to pay regular visits to all teachers that I have trained. I just don’t want to visit the partner schools only. It’s okay if I don’t get a transportation incentive. But I need a letter of endorsement from DBE3,” said Sri Aswati.
Sri Aswati said that she got excited about introducing DBE3 materials to teachers after she heard the story of carrots, eggs and coffee beans, while participating in the training on Becoming Effective Facilitator conducted by DBE3 East Java. Sri explained that when put into boiling water the hard carrots will get soft, the soft eggs will become hard, but coffee beans will produce pleasant scent.
Sri added that the boiling water symbolizes problems in life. “We can be like carrots: hard in the beginning but then becoming soft. Or we can also be like eggs: initially soft and then becoming hard because of the boiling water,” said Sri Aswati.
“But it is best to be like coffee beans. The boiling water cannot change them, but it is the coffee beans that change the water into something pleasant. The hotter the water the better coffee we will get.”
Furthermore, Sri Astuti said, “We should be like coffee beans: becoming a better person because of the difficulties we experience. We learn something, get a new experiences, new skills and abilities. We become better people because of our experiences. Then we improve our environment. That’s what I really want to: contributing positive things to our education system.”
Equipped with a letter of endorsement from DBE3 and her strong willingnes to improve the education system, this 47-year-old lady assists 10 non-partner schools of DBE3. “It is quite hard to change the the way teachers teach, but I feel challenged and I will be very happy when they learn about
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“But it is best to be like coffee beans. The boiling water cannot change them, but it is the coffee beans that change the water into something pleasant. The hotter the water the better coffee we will get.”
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DBE3 and become enthusiastic to learn more,” explained Sri.
Sri said that she had received a warm welcome from teachers, when she first came to introduce DBE3 and assist teachers of non-partner schools. Together with other District Trainers she succeeded in training teachers of non-partner schools in the DBE3 modules.
In the context of decentralized education, what she has done is truly a good example which should be followed by others who work in DBE3.
So far, three replication programs which have been intiated by teachers and schools in East Java. The programs were held in February 2007 and December 2007, involving SMP 2 Gedangan, SMP 1 Porong, SMP 3 Porong, and SMP 2 Sedati, Sidoarjo. The training was focused on the implementation of contextual learning using ICARE methods.
The DBE3 program in Sidoarjo, East Java, seems to be on the right track. Together with District Trainers, DBE3 East Java keeps working on improving the quality of education.
The roles of individuals like Sri Aswati are helping create better education for children in East Java. Let’s hope there will be more people like Sri Aswati. (Adi-Sidoarjo)
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