Quality Education for Children in Indonesia

Dear friends,

Firstly, we would like to thank  you for being an amazing supporter for our project  in 2022! With the spirit of the new year, we would like to wish you much joy and blessings to you and your loved ones. 

Some of you might have heard the news that last November, an earthquake hit our working area of Cipanas, West Java. Many people suffered huge losses and many have lost their homes. Some of our projects had to momentarily stop, and we focused on providing as much support as possible to those families affected by the earthquake, many of whom were our own staff and neighbors. Thanks to donations from all over the world, we have already been able to provide relief to over 1,800 families and will continue to do so in the next months to come.

However, before the earthquake hit, we were able to run a Teacher Training for nearly 90 teachers from primary and secondary schools nearby. The training ran for 2 consecutive days at the YUM Community Centre. Professor Sri Hartati R. Suradijono, MA, Ph.D from the Department of Psychology, University of Indonesia, was the speaker for the training, and shared with us the Role of Motivation in Learning. In this transitional period, many teachers have difficulties adapting from learning at home to learning at school, after more than two years of school closures.  The training session was carried out interactively, the speaker discussed the current learning-teaching conditions, and the teachers also shared their experiences with one another. This activity is a series of educational programs to help students and teachers to adapt and stay motivated during the pandemic. 

Moving forward, this year we have a great number of different activities planned for our students, teachers and partner schools. As always, our aim is to provide support in education where there is a lack, and your continued contributions enable us to do just that!

Thank you and have an amazing year!

NOTE: If you are interested to read more about our earthquake relief efforts, find us on social media: @yayasanusahamulia

YUM welcomes students from schools or universities, both local and international, who would like to engage with our projects. Last year, a student from the Social Welfare Faculty of the University of Indonesia spent 4 months doing her internship and was assigned to identify the needs of the Tutoring and Remedial class. She found out that the parents of the tutoring students needed support to ensure their children keep learning at home, while the schools remained closed. 

To solve this issue, she recommended a home learning guidebook for parents. The guidebook is designed by the intern under the supervision of a YUM staff member and her university advisor. The guidebook contains types of student learning styles and how the parents can support their children to study at home. The initial workshop took place last year and we received much positive feedback from the parents. Therefore, we have decided to make this activity a regular part of YUM’s Tutoring program.

With the support we received from yourself and other donors, this year we have been able to run the workshop 4 times. Three of them took place at local schools and one was held at YUM’s hall. All of the workshops were led by either our Program Manager or our project officers. In total there have been almost 100 participants  and at the end of the session, they all receive the guidebook. 80% of them are parents and the rest are teachers and the school principals.

Let’s hear what the Mr. DD, parent of NC, 3rd grader, said about this activity: 

“I wish to help my daughter study at home, but sometimes I do not know what is the best way to help her. After this workshop session, I feel more familiar with the type of student my daughter is. She is a visual type. It is easier for her to remember something when she has seen it directly. Thanks to YUM and the school for inviting me here.”

And now, let’s hear what Miss AI, teacher of 1st grade, said about this activity:

“This Parenting workshop gives us knowledge that we have not known before. Through this activity, we also can share our experience from school with the parents. Now, we have the same knowledge with our students' parents. It will make it easier for both of us to support our students."