The Smallest Actions Often Make the Biggest Difference

The Smallest Actions Often Make the Biggest Difference

By: Debrina Ayu

Figure 1 : Sigit is teaching in front of the class.

Based on The Jakarta Post, Indonesia is the second-least literate nation in the world in a list of 61 measurable countries, besting only Botswana, according to new research that ranks the five Nordic states (Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden) as the top five.

The number of uneducated people is higher in isolated district. This could be a wakeup call for many people including Sigit Puji Wicaksono as for today he joins SM3T, Sarjana Mendidik di Daerah Terluar, Terdepan, dan Tertinggal. The participants are there to make people across the nation realize that Indonesia is not merely Java Island and it takes lots of people to develop it. SM3T offers different teaching experience. He said that teaching in remote areas is totally different than in big cities such as Jakarta. He wants to undergo it and shares his ‘city’ life to people in those areas.

SM3T is not a new program. It has been held for 4 years at that time. In 2015, Sigit and his colleagues talked about this programme yet at the end, there was only him. He decided to join the programme soon after graduating from State University of Jakarta. In addition, after the SM3T, the participants will get free enrolment for PPG (Pendidikan Profesi Guru) –a must for a teacher.

However, Sigit had to meet the requirements which were online application, written test, and interview. Stated that he was qualified, he had to go through some training before being sent to remote areas. Every participant is chosen either to Papua, Kupang, or Riau as for Sigit it is a village in Kupang. He is assigned in Junior High School 2 Amfoang Timur. It is a totally different world out there. The village is near the Oekusi District of Timor Leste. Don’t even bother to think about Wi-Fi. There isn’t even a cellular signal. In fact, the electricity is only for about 12 hours a day. To reach the City of Kupang, he has to take a bus for 12-14 hours.

He feels happy to contribute something for our country yet it is really sad to see undeveloped district. “It is sad to see the condition in this area. Once, I challenged my students to count number 1 to 10 yet they cannot even say one two three in English”, he recalled.

Once, the students were asked to introduce themselves in English yet none of them could. After they were taught several times, they were able to do it with a text. Sigit also said that the students also couldn’t understand simple expressions. For instance they were told to open the book. Few of them managed to do it but the rest of them just stand up, or opened the window, or cleaned the blackboard.

Figure 2: The students are studying.

The students only have a small opportunity to study at home because the books are only available in the school. So they could only rely on the teachers. Sometimes the students go to Sigit’s house to repeat what they have studied in the school.

Sigit also said that students in 7^th grade couldn’t even remember a simple multiplication as for the following grade still get confused. “It was one afternoon when they were studying in my house. They were given a simple case; if you had Rp10.000,- in your hand and the price of a book was Rp1.000,- each, how many books could you buy? They answered, ‘we couldn’t buy it, sir. The price of the book in the store was Rp2.500,-”, said Sigit.

It is tough yet meaningful. Sigit has lived for 8 months there and is about to finish his SM3T in a couple of months. The programme has given valuable knowledge for students in remote areas. They have learned to count, speak, read, and write –something that not all of them can get since there are limited amount of teachers.

“One of the proudest moments is listening to my students singing Indonesia Raya. I wish that my contribution is useful for students here. They will continue to higher level of education and one day, they will come back to develop their village.”