This post was originally in Indonesian. Sorry for any mistakes in translation.
SBI = International Standard Schools, a new program launched by the Indonesia government to give public money to selected schools in the hope they will provide an international standard of education for the kids lucky enough to get in to those select public schools. Other kids in other public schools get nothing.
[This email was received from a support teacher in a SBI school in Jakarta. He (or she) complains about the poor state of those schools. We hope the government will pay attention and do something to fix this mess.]
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I am a support teacher in one of the pioneering SBI schools in Jakarta. I want to cry when I witness the deception made against my pupils by our educational decision makers. Teaching is carried out by one class teacher and one support teacher who can speak English. During my first days in this class, the pupils enthusiastically spoke English with their peers and with the teachers. But eventually, their enthusiasm dropped significantly when they did not get a good response in English. If a pupil asked something in English, then I had to translate into Indonesian so the class teacher could understand. Then the class teacher would answer in Indonesian and his answer was translated by me into English for the students.
I felt that all of this was completely ridiculous. We were not in a bilingual class like those in Canada, but rather we were in Indonesia where everyone in the class understood Indonesian. Eventually, the children couldn’t be bothered asking anything in English. I often reminded them, but I understood why they became reluctant to speak any English at all. In addition, it was difficult for the senior teachers to speak good English because of the age factor (they were too old too start learning a language). Whenever they spoke English, just one or two words, the pupils would smile and glance at me. Furthermore, one of the pupils approached me after the lesson and said, “Why don’t the teachers just speak Indonesian. Their English is so confusing.”
It’s not that the teachers themselves did not realize this. They often complained about their own hurt feelings when they were laughed at by the pupils. The teachers, who should ideally be a role model for the students to listen to and imitate, eventually become a big joke to the pupils. And I was caught in the middle every day, as a witness to this farce that was absolutely not funny. Both the teachers and the pupils were frustrated and became casualties of some government official’s unclear ambition.
Apart from accompanying the pupils in the class, I also gave training to the teachers, that I called ‘English for survival’. For example, simple phrases to open and close the class, sentences for giving orders in the class, and it included teaching them the jargon they needed for specific subjects. I had to study the material that would be taught by the teachers in the class later so that I could help them translate everything into English. But honestly, it all made me feel crazy.
In addition, it was also very difficult to ask the teachers to sit with me first and plan their teaching material. Ideally, before the material was used in class, the class teacher and I needed to sit together to discuss all of the teaching material and the delivery method in English so that when they were in their class, they would already know the special terms for the subject that was being taught. But this very rarely happened. The teachers were usually too busy playing games on the computer during their break time in the teacher’s room.
When exam time came, they asked me to translate all of the questions into English. And when the answers were being checked, I had to sit beside them and check their work as well. I had to do this because several times some students complained that the teacher marked their answers as being wrong simply because of the limited ability of the teacher to understand English. I should make it clear that the TOEFL test results of the students were much higher than the results of the class teachers.
I really want to stop working as a support teacher in this “guinea pig class”. But I love teaching and enjoy being with these students. I love these young energetic people so much.
Source: SatriaDharma.com
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This confession from a teacher explains exactly the situation that I was worried about before this program was started. Many criticisms about this program were written by myself and Satria Dharma in 2007, when the program was still being planned. Because the Education Department put this program into action without the necessary preparation, it has now been proven (though this teachers confession) as a completely messed up program, an irresponsible one, and a program that is spending large sums of tax-payers money without given the promised results.
When is this country going to get a government that actually cares about education?
Gene Netto
Some other posts about SBI Schools:
- Komentar Rencana Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (SBI)
- Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional tidak berjalan dengan baik
- Membahas Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (SBI) di milis SD Islam
