THE “UNSUNG HEROES” WITH A CHOICE
Gunaryadi
Kinasih Resort – Cimanggis, 10 November 2011
A number of teachers from 4 Indonesian Schools Abroad (SILN) of Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Cairo and Wassenaar have been so blessed to take part in an education and training for teachers’ certification programme where they met, stayed and shared with hundreds of teachers largely coming from Banten, Jakarta dan West Java provinces. Many have been devoting themselves to educate young children in remote villages and rural areas. Similarly SILN teachers can be also considered as standing guard at the educational frontier of our imaginary territorial borders on the foreign soil.
Starting from 7 November 2011, the 10-day intensive course and assessment is a part to guarantee the quality and competence of Indonesian teachers. The programme belongs to the Ministry of Education and Culture and was conducted by the State University of Jakarta. For this some SILN teachers received special support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through respective Indonesian embassies.
Most participants are expected to pass, but with worst case scenario in mind, some might fall as the threshold is reasonably high, and they may need to retake the same process. If they fall, they wouldn’t exactly fall like soldiers do in the battlefield. But either scenarios would unfold it would influence the resilience of our first line of defence in educational sector.
Today, 10 November 2011, we earnestly commemorate the heroism against injustice and oppression throughout the former Netherlands East Indies, which finally celebrated the “political” independence in 1945. Those founding fathers, some well-known, many less known, and the majority were unsung individuals who had sacrificed their every things, and in many cases, given up their upmost priceless right, i.e. their lives, for ushering the birth of the new nation, Indonesia. “A great nation,” as Bung Karno wisely put it, “shall never forget its heroes” (in this reflective essay “heroes” refer to both genders).
For many years the teachers have been classified into the “unsung heroes” segment in our nationhood, for their almost ignored sacrifice and contribution to uphold our national grandeur. Ironically the plight of those forgotten heroes has been for many decades personified by “Oemar Bakrie”, a materially poor teacher but remained highly motivated and dedicated, a character chanted in a hilarious hymn of Iwan Fals back many years ago.
Yet, such perception is now changing along with the more serious attention of the government by providing better legal protection and policy support, and for sure, the incentives to teachers. Teaching profession and being teachers have begun gaining ground of confidence, which in overall means leading toward better life.
One thing is certain to those who passed such course that they will be recognised as professional and certified teachers in a sense that they are immediately required to perform and deliver better. In plain way it looks like “carrot and stick” strategy, but the larger picture would show that we move toward meritocracy. The line of logic is simple: better teachers, better younger generation, more competitive nation, benign contributors to human civilisations, a collective dream shared by Indonesian founding fathers. This is a great hope, or perhaps a too lofty expectation. But it is optimism that would pave the way forward, to overcome abundant of seasoned obstacles, where each stakeholder should play its own instrument within a well-directed philharmonic orchestra.
The participation of some teachers from the SILNs in this “tough, hectic, and serious venture” in Cimanggis, at the first instance, should be placed within the aforesaid context of understanding that should be perceived from the “state of mind” the participants themselves. Otherwise, the national commitment for teachers’ capacity-building and the end goals will vanish in vain. If it happened, we would have to resign to the fact that the spectre perception of teachers as “unsung heroes” would return and haunt the nation again. Now we are given an option, the future of this nation might rest on the right choice hundreds of thousands of our “no-longer unsung heroes” make today. Blessed 66th anniversary of Indonesian Day of Heroes!
