One of many characteristics of a developed nation is the big role that research plays in developing the nation’s industry. A country with high quality and number of research will benefit greatly from these researches.

According to Indonesian Institute of Science, the ratio of researcher per population in a developed country is at least 2,000 researchers per one million of population. In Japan, the number is 6,000. In Malaysia and Singapore, the number is 503 and 570, respectively. Unfortunately, Indonesia still has a long way to go. Here, there are 199 researchers per one million of population.

To decrease this gap, a concerted effort by the Government and various education institutions is needed. The private sector is also expected to support this endeavor and improve the public awareness on the importance of research.

Indonesian education institutions, as centers where knowledge is developed and used, must lead the efforts to produce young researchers. So far, out of 16,000 researchers in Indonesia, around 70% come from higher education institutions. The quality of some Indonesian researchers is comparable with that of researchers from developed nations. For example, there is Warsito P. Taruno who discovered Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT,) the latest shuttle plane walls scanning technology currently used by NASA.  In telecommunication, Indonesia also has Khoirul Anwar who discovered the 4G LTE technology.

However, Indonesia needs more Warsitos and Khoiruls. Further, Indonesia needs more high quality researches with high quality results. At the same time, the public and industry also need to be able to access information relevant to different topics of research. With such support from the Government, education institutions, private sectors, and other stakeholders, then the young researchers of Indonesia could work hard and provide results that could contribute to the improvement of lives in Indonesia and other parts of the world.

Tanoto Foundation held a two-day training for its Regional Champion Scholarship recipients recently. Carried out together with its corporate partners, Asian Agri and APRIL, this training aimed to introduce the institutions to as well as improve the soft skills of the scholarship recipients or Tanoto Scholars.

During the first day of the training, participants learned about different topics including how to improve their communications skills. They also learned to argue effectively.

In addition to learning about organizations vision and mission, these Tanoto Scholars also learned about the work culture of the organizations that are based on three principles: Knowledge, Health, and Social, and Focus on Sustainable Improvement.

“As a college student, to learn about culture of an organization is a valuable experience.  Moreover, I learned it from top company like APRIL and Asian Agri. I am grateful to get Tanoto Foundation scholarship. With this scholarship, I have the opportunity to receive soft skill training to improve my ability,” said Rizky, one of the participants.

During the second day, the Tanoto Scholars visited Asian Agri Learning Institute (AALI), a training center to develop human capitals for the oil palm industry. The participants learned how employee candidates are trained to improve their managerial, leadership, and technical skills.

Regional Champion Scholarship is a Tanoto Foundation scholarship program for Undergraduate level. Available for high school graduates in North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi, Tanoto Scholars receive monthly living allowance and tuition fee support until they graduate. Afterward, they will work with companies of RGE Indonesia Group, including Asian Agri and APRIL. This Scholarship program is implemented in collaboration with 28 partner universities, both public and private from all over Indonesia. To date, more than 2,330 students have received scholarships from Tanoto Foundation. A total of 134 students are recipients of Regional Champion Scholarships.

Enthusiastic and energetic atmosphere colored the teacher quality improvement training in Jambi. The training was facilitated by Tanoto Foundation. The teachers were divided in groups and received training material on effective classroom management. They enjoyed the training as the materials were delivered in fun and interactive ways such as activities that were similar to snakes and ladders game.

Using approaches that were similar to games encouraged participants to actively voice their opinions and work together as teams. Each team carried out problem solving activities and shared experience about what they did to improve the learning process in their schools. Each team member got a turn, following the steps on the tracks of snakes and ladders game.

This training was part of the effort to improve the quality of education in Tanoto Foundation’s partner schools in Jambi. The participants of the training were grouped together based on their clusters of locations. Cluster 1 training participants included teachers from schools from Kebun Muara Bulian and Kebun Taman Raja. Meanwhile, Cluster 2 participants were from Kebun Tungkal Ulu and Kebun Bungo Tebo, Jambi. They then would disseminate the newly learned knowledge in their schools.

According Fitria, Training Specialist of Tanoto Foundation, this training is very important to determine future programs. “This training plays a strategic role for the schools’ teacher quality improvement programs. After being implemented for five years, we try to evaluate the impact of our work on the effort to increase quality of education in Tanoto Foundation’s school partners,” said Fitria.

Through training such as this, teachers are encouraged to be more skillful and knowledgeable to produce work that is creative and interesting to support the teaching and learning process.

Teachers improvement program by Tanoto Foundation is designed to support teachers to increase their capacity so they can carry out teaching and learning process that is active, creative, innovative and fun. Tanoto Foundation support the schools through training, mentoring, replication of good practices and sharing of knowledge and experience with others.