Iwan Budi Santoso, a Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), has an attitude of high social awareness.  Seeing how children in rural areas receive poor quality education, he devoted himself for a year as a teacher at SD Inpres Batulai, Kabupaten Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara.

Iwan’s concern for the education of children arose when he was still studying at the Faculty of Psychology of UGM.  The Tanoto Foundation 2010 scholarship recipient followed a khatulistiwa (equatorial) expedition as a social and cultural researcher alongside the Indonesian National Army in Kutai Barat, an Indonesian border region with Malaysia.

In this remote rural area, Iwan saw for himself how the children were so eager to learn, but there was a shortage of teachers at the school.  Children just played around without the guidance and learning from the teachers. Since then, Iwan tried to step in and started teaching.

“It turns out that to be a teacher is indeed fun,” recalls Iwan. “There is a sense of satisfaction when I see children understand and be able to put into practice what I teach.”

Iwan’s desire to contribute to the Indonesian education world continues.  After graduating from university in 2013, he enrolled in the Indonesian Teaching Movement and was selected to be one of the Young Teachers in the program.

In the program, Iwan received intensive training for two months on education and teaching.  From this training Iwan got additional preparation for providing quality teaching learning, before plunging into the placement area on the island of Rote.

“I find that the children in the elementary school of SD Inpres Batulai are very enthusiastic in learning. Unfortunately, we still lack competent teachers to teach them, “said this young man born in Temanggung, Central Java, with cycling as a hobby.

His first task was to encourage the local teachers to utilize creative teaching learning media so that the children can enjoy more and understand easily the subject matters. Iwan also introduced outdoor learning to provoke children’s critical attitude.

“Sometimes I took the children to the beach to learn and know different types of wind. Another time, I invited them to get to know the natural phenomena of the lunar eclipse by watching it directly, “added Iwan.

Not only that, Iwan also took the initiative to introduce social media to the teachers so that they can exchange information and learn from teachers outside the region. Iwan hopes that what he did could improve the competence of teachers in providing learning in the classrooms.

At just 19 years old, university student and Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipient Mahtuf Ikhsan boasts quite an impressive resume, having attended international conferences in 10 different countries across Asia and Europe.

This month, Mahtuf is set to further add to this number when he goes to Mexico for his 11th conference – one where forestry students from around the world will convene.

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To Mahtuf, a student majoring in forest management at the Faculty of Forestry at Bogor Agricultural University, traveling abroad for free and acquiring new knowledge at the same time have been golden opportunities.

However, Mahtuf maintains this has only been possible with the hard work that he puts into writing his papers, often inspirational ones which suggest solutions to global environmental issues.

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The Pekanbaru native, born in 1999, attended his first international conference when he was still a Year 9 student in high school.

At the time, he heard about a conference that was to set to take place in Manila, Philippines. With his interest piqued, Mahtuf set to work consulting with his teacher and writing a paper to submit.
His paper was eventually selected to be part of the conference, and Mahtuf was off to the Philippines as a high school student representative from Indonesia.

Since then, Mahtuf has not been able to shake off the addictive feeling of attending international conferences, finding them beneficial in not only adding to his existing knowledge, but also in expanding his professional network.

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Within Indonesia, Mahtuf has been named the first winner of an online essay competition organized by the Muslim Student’s Association of Universitas Islam Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics in 2017, winner of the ‘Favorite Presentation’ award at National Student Science Week 2017, and the winner of Jambi University’s National Essay Competition 2017.

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However, his achievements also extend beyond the national level – Mahtuf received the ‘Best Presentation’ and ‘Best Paper’ recognitions during the 5th World Conference on Applied Science Engineering and Technology (WCASET) in Bangkok last year.

He also received ‘Best Presentation’ awards at the International Conference on Telecommunications and Communication Engineering (ICTCE) 2017 in Taiwan, as well as at the 14th International Conference on Management, Business, Social and Humanities Research (MBSHR) 2017 in Hong Kong.

“My goal is to become a forestry diplomat. I want to improve the forestry policies in Indonesia as well as in other countries, so that both the economy and forest environment can flourish harmoniously and sustainably,” Mahtuf shared.

For those interested in following in Mahtuf Ikhsan’s footsteps, here are some tips:
1. Look frequently for information about international competitions and conferences on international agency websites, on campus or through student organization networks.
2. Consult lecturers on the paper or essay which you intend to write. Lecturers are a repository of qualified and diverse references which can be used as sources for your writing.
3. Learn the writing style of technical essays which have been published in international journals and adopt it when producing your own work.
4. Constantly fine-tune the quality of your writing as your work should meet international standards.
5. Know when to start or stop – writer’s block is a real constraint. Do not push yourself when you are out of ideas. Take a break instead to rejuvenate before you get back to writing.

Esra Palentina Samosir, a teacher at SDS Global Andalan Estate Cerenti in Kuantan Singingi, Riau, Indonesia, was recently crowned the winner of an ‘Inspirational Writing’ Competition organized by Kuark, which publishes a national children’s science comic.

SDS Global Andalan Estate Cerenti is one of Tanoto Foundation’s partner schools, where Tanoto Foundation routinely carries out training for the teachers in a bid to further strengthen their teaching competencies.

The article below was contributed by Esra:

I feel proud to be the winner of the Inspirational Writing Competition held by Kuark. Not because my writing was deemed the best, but because I can now share my experiences with, and inspire teachers all over Indonesia.

For the competition, I wrote about the teaching methods I learned from attending training sessions held by Tanoto Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on educational activities. One of these methods I shared was how teaching can be carried out anywhere – including outside the classroom.

As a teacher at SDS Global Andalan Estate Cerenti in Gunung Melintang village, Kuantan Singingi, Riau, I feel lucky as our school implements about 70 per cent of our students’ learning outside the classroom.

This arrangement allows me to experiment with my teaching. One way I’ve done this is to have my students carry out observation work at a conservation forest which is a 10-minute walk from the school.

Once, I took the students of the sixth grade to look for special distinctive plants in the forest. I divided the students into four groups, and tasked each group to study a specific plant species – pitcher plants (kantung semar), dodders (cuscuta), rattan, and forest orchids.

After first having to locate their assigned plants, students then had to study and record the plants’ specific traits. During this stage, students have to study these plants as though they are scientists – they identify and note the plant’s name, height, leaf type as well as root type in their books.

I can see that students really enjoy this activity. Having students enjoy the learning process is a good start to making it easier for them to understand the lesson.

I’m really happy when I hear students sharing about the plants they have studied, correctly identifying their heights and characteristics. It makes me imagine these children as future scientists or biological researchers who will advance science in Indonesia. It makes me know that it is not impossible that one of them might become a Nobel laureate in the future.