Andereas Nugraha has experienced an admirable career so far. The former Tanoto Scholar went from having a job at Indonesia’s National Development Planning Agency in 2014, to joining the ASEAN Secretariat Political and Security Directorate office in 2017, where he still works.

He became a Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipient in 2008 when he was studying International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Gadjah Mada University (UGM).

However, Andereas’ love for international relations between countries started when he was just a young boy in the fourth grade in 2000.

At the time, Andereas was chosen as the ambassador from Indonesia to attend the International Children Symposium in Orlando, Florida in the United States.

Andereas was chosen because of his efforts to establish a library at home with his father, who was a teacher. Living in a village with extremely limited access to reading materials, he felt fortunate because his father often tried to source books for him to read and collect, and also share them with other children in the village.

“At that time, it was unusual for people who lived in the village to even dare to dream of having a career in an international setting. But attending that symposium motivated me, and that’s why I chose to study International Relations,” he shared.

The optimistic choice turned out to be the right one, because Andereas received various opportunities at university to hone his skills and realise his potential, including joining the Model United Nations in the Hague, Netherlands and Beijing, China. He also became an exchange student at the prestigious National University of Singapore in 2010.

In 2014, Andereas also continued his studies, taking up a Master of Arts (Strategic Studies) and Master of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. There, he majored in defense – the area he is currently working in at the ASEAN Secretariat.

“If you want to pursue an international career, become an expert at the national level first because it is only from here that people will know you are a valuable asset. Let’s not have an incredible career at the international level and yet not know anything about Indonesia,” Andereas advised.

People who enter Tri Heni Endang Rachma Pamiluwati’s fourth-grade class at SDN 25 Pekanbaru in Riau might be confused at first – there are always objects which look out of place in her classroom.

One day, it is rice, sugar, flour and measuring scales. On another day, you might see caterpillars, tadpoles and butterflies.

Getting her students to bring these unusual objects to class is all part of the teacher’s efforts to encourage them to learn actively – the rice, sugar, flour and measuring scales are meant to teach the students about lengths and weights, for example.

As a Regional Facilitator for Tanoto Foundation’s PINTAR program which aims to improve the quality of learning in Pekanbaru, Tri Heni rarely runs out of ideas for creative lessons in the classroom, especially after she has attended a MIKiR training session.

Run by Tanoto Foundation, MIKiR emphasizes the four principles of ‘Experiencing and observing, Interacting, Communicating and Reflecting’ during creative lesson planning.

MIKiR is part of the PINTAR program campaign in supporting active learning in the class. The expected results is students have more critical thinking skills about the lesson they received.

“The MIKiR method lets teachers teach lessons while the children experience and observe. After this, the children deliver the results of their observations, by reflecting with their friends,” said Tri Heni.

The method makes the learning process more focused and also provides a unique and memorable experience for the teacher and students.

As an example, to make learning about metamorphosis more interesting, Tri Heni asks her students to observe caterpillars and frog eggs over five days.

By the end of the five-day observation period, some of the students did not want to take the animals home because they had changed into other animals, Tri Heni says.

“The caterpillars had changed into butterflies after emerging from cocoons. Meanwhile, the eggs which had been originally mistaken for frog eggs turned out to be mosquito eggs, and larva hatched from them instead of tadpoles. The students learned a lot about metamorphosis from these observations,” she said.

Tri Heni says the students in his class have become much more enthusiastic to learn since he began applying the MIKiR method in class.

More importantly, their capabilities to understand subjects have become a lot better, which are the best assets for learning new subjects, Tri Heni says.

“I don’t have any unusual grand ambitions – I want to be a teacher who produces extraordinary students,” she says.

One of the PINTAR program effort to encourage teacher implementing the active learning is disseminate this good practices to other schools around so other teachers can imitate or develop their own learning creativity in classroom.

Tanoto Foundation, in collaboration with Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) and the University of Riau (UNRI), recently helped to launch Indonesia’s first Pulp and Paper Technology Diploma 3 (D3) vocational study program.

As part of its support, Tanoto Foundation and RAPP donated a 2,092 m² building which houses six classrooms, six research laboratories, two meeting rooms and a library.

The six-semester program will be part of the Chemical Engineering department at UNRI. Students will be offered direct access to the world of pulp and paper with support from industry practitioners. Guest lecturers will include pulp and paper experts from APRIL.

Mohamad Nasir, the Indonesian Minister for Research, Technology and Higher Education, was present to inaugurate both the new program and building at the university on January 29.

During the occasion, the minister expressed appreciation for Tanoto Foundation’s support towards the program.

“This is a study program for millennials, which is what is required by the pulp and paper sector at the moment. So far, there is no educational program for pulp and paper – this is the first in Indonesia.

“With this, I hope that other universities will also establish new educational programs in line with the current times and demands,” said Mohamad Nasir.

60 students are enrolled as the first batch of the program, who are expected to graduate in 2020.

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Meanwhile, Global CEO of Tanoto Foundation J. Satrijo Tanudjojo said that it was an honour for Tanoto Foundation to be involved in establishing the Pulp and Paper Technology program.

“Inspired by the founders of Tanoto Foundation, Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto, we have the duty to establish this Pulp and Paper program as part of our commitment to improving the quality of education in Indonesia. This is in line with our philosophy that quality education accelerates opportunities,” he said.

Tanoto Foundation’s partnership with University of Riau has been established since 2006. Since then, more than 350 Tanoto Scholars have studied at the university.

At present, more than 50 Tanoto Scholars, who are also participants of the Foundation’s TELADAN program, are studying at UNRI.