In September 2008, Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) heard the news that their educational proposal for Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, was approved in full for a total of £55,000 by Barclays Capital Hong Kong, an international investment bank from London.
The proposal consisted of a set of three integrated proposals focusing on educational-strengthening components for Central Kalimantan:
With aid entrusted by Barclays Capital, YUM is able to continue its projects for improving and providing life changing opportunities for many of the youth of Central Kalimantan.
Through the implementation of these this education projects commencing in February 2009, YUM aims at developing the intellectual and critical minds of the young generation of Central Kalimantan, creating greater opportunities for their later employment.
It is estimated that thousands of children around the target area, and in the surrounding area, will benefit for many years to come. For this, we would you like to thank Barclays Capital for their valuable trust and support in YUM.
Availability and support of facilities, educational materials and teaching aids are very influential in the joy and hence, success of both teaching and learning.
For this reason, the Government School Support Project is a project launched by YUM as a relief plan to counter this common yet grievous problem of lack of resources and facilities in schools, especially in Central Kalimantan.
Through the implementation of this project, YUM will be able to help provide seven primary schools in six villages with the educational resource and facilities they need, such as:
The view of teaching and learning has changed over the past several years. The view of teachers being the primary importance in learning has been replaced by the belief that students are in control of their own learning and that teachers now aim to assist and facilitate students' understanding of the material. For this reason, having quality teachers who are able assist and develop students' ability to think and solve problems have amplified in importance.
"The purpose which runs through and strengthens all other educational purposes? the common thread of education? is the development of the ability to think". Novak (1998, p. 9)*
The Teacher Training project was designed by Sekolah Bina Cita Utama ("BCU"), the top "National Plus" school in Central Kalimantan, in an effort to improve the educational levels of children in the surrounding villages by training and improving the teachers' methods of teaching.
The training, which will be held on the BCU campus by qualified trainers specifically flown in from overseas, will focus on:
In addition, it will also be training local talent during the first year of this program to lead the training program in subsequent years.
With the success of children's libraries operated by YUM in Jakarta, Banda Aceh and YUM's current compound in Kalimantan, YUM has decided to continue its mission in providing, supporting, and improving the reading habits of children.
Funded by Barclays Capital, we are now able to open a Library Resource Center, at our new strategically-located YUM Village, Central Kalimantan.
This Library Resource Center is dedicated to improving reading in the surrounding area. With programs such as story telling, role playing, interactive reading games, and so on, we hope to stimulate children's curiosity and intellectual interest.
In addition, multi-media elements, such as two computers with internet access, will be incorporated as a part of the Center to enable children to carry out research for school work or other educational purposes.
The Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) will provide the opportunity for many children, youths and adults in the community to learn and benefit from access to information and communication resources via the Internet.
YUM's valued Education Projects in Central Kalimantan continue for a second year with further funding from Barclays Capital. As an extension of YUM's current projects which focus on improving education standards and students' intellectual capacity, YUM will establish a new MCT as part of the existing Library Resource Center.
"I believe that the Telecentre is a way for people in the villages to improve their access to news and information that would be relevant to their daily lives, and that could widen their knowledge and understanding of the world outside of their village. Low-cost access to the internet would enable villagers to access educational information, as well as technical and marketing information about their crops, animals, and other livelihood activities."
Bardolf Paul, Director of Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta and long long-time advocate of a Telecentre in Central Kalimantan
YUM's current Education Projects; Government School Support, the Library Resource Centre and Teacher Training (run by BCU, the Rungan Sari School) continue to support the local education system with the provision of equipment, teaching aids, books and reading materials, as well as training to build teachers' capacities and encourage student-centered teaching methodologies.
After 2 years of successful work in Central Kalimantan, providing educational assistance to local schools across the Bukit Batu sub-district, including an integrated Teacher Training program run by Bina Cita Utama School to develop the capacity local teachers, Barclays Capital has yet again demonstrated their excellent support towards YUM’s Educational Project!
In November 2010, YUM was once more greeted by a pleasant surprise when Barclays Capital announced their enthusiasm to support the continuation of the Education Project for a 3rd year.
Still aiming on building the education standard in Central Kalimantan by assisting local schools with needed resources and materials, this 3rd year educational project will focus on developing the capacity of local teachers and youths through trainings.
With the establishment of a Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) in 2009, YUM will focus on training local youths to be able to independently run the MCT and facilitate computer classes for other youths and children alike. Through Computer Training for Trainer Workshop, YUM will train selected champions among the local youths on Computer and Management skills.
YUM wishes to also continue and expand its work on improving the reading habits of children, youths and other community members. In 2008 YUM was able to establish a Library Resource Centre that has become a reliable and beneficial resource centre for the communities. Furthermore, in 2009 YUM launched its very first Boxes of Books Services program, providing a box filled with books to villages where access to books are scarce. With this 2010 funding support, YUM wishes to implement a Library Management Training and Support program with the intention of training local schools and its selected teachers on Library Management. Once this training is completed, YUM will provide needed assistance to these selected schools to enable them to start up and run their own school library.
