School Health Unit (UKS) has an important role in familiarizing the students and teachers as well as the whole school environment with healthy living. The same is the case at Sekolah Dasar Negeri/SDN (State Elementary School) 204/VIII Napal Putih, located at Serai Serumpun SubDistric, Tebo District, Jambi. UKS facility that this school provides originally was placed in a room shared with the school library.

As a form of concern for the health and smooth student learning in the school, Tanoto Foundation provided support in the form of a special building for the UKS for SDN 204/VIII Napal Putih.
“This UKS is extraordinary. The equipment provided by Tanoto Foundation is good and comprehensive. The children are very enthusiastic and amazed, “said Reny Siregar, one of the teachers at SDN 204/VIII Napal Putih.

Since the UKS is separated from the library, health activities at SDN 204/VIII Napal Putih have been running optimally. Other activities related to health, such as coaching small doctors, become more comfortable.

In addition, to support the three main programs in the coaching and development of UKS (Trias UKS), namely Health Education, Health Services, and Nurturing of Healthy School Living Environment, Tanoto Foundation also equipped the UKS with beds, a stretcher, a medicine cabinet, a digital blood pressure monitor, a thermometer, a digital body scale, height measuring equipment, and a stethoscope.

Another positive impact that is enjoyed by the existence of this complete and adequate UKS facility is that SDN 204/VIII Napal Putih was appointed as the subdistrict representative for participating in the district level small doctor competition held in the past April 2018.

Reading is the key in learning activities, and as such parents should introduce it to the children at an early age. Nowadays, access to reading materials has become easier, however, it does not mean that developing children’s reading interest has become easier. The availability of gadgets can be a factor inhibiting the triggering of reading interest in children.

Faced with this phenomenon, parents should not give up but must have creative ways to keep children’s interest in reading continue to grow. How to do it? Pay attention to the five tips mentioned below so that children yet love to read amid various interferences from communication and information devices.

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1. Utilizing multimedia content
One should not be against the contents of multimedia such as videos. Such contents can actually be used as the media to bring children closer to the reading materials. There are many video clips that teach children how to read.
There are also game apps on smartphones to introduce letters and readings. Children will like them and this can be a first step to introduce reading to children.

2. Read and watch movies
There are many children story books that have been adopted into films, especially animation. Invite the children to combine these two media. First, give them a children story book and ask them to read and tell the contents of the book. When they have finished reading the book, you can give reward them by allowing them to watch a movie adaptation of the book.

3. Take the children to a library
This may sound conventional and ordinary. But, if you know the latest library facilities available, a visit to a library can really foster the children’s interest in reading. The National Library, for example, provides a child reading room, a room for multimedia and internet, a mini theater, and a room where the children can choose books freely. Such facilities have been widely adopted by the regional libraries.

4. Provide a book corner in a child’s bedroom
The saying ” alah bisa karena biasa (God is able because He is used to doing it)” also applies in the reading habit. When a child is used to seeing books around him, there is a big chance that s(he) will love reading books. Create a reading corner in his bedroom using a shelf and an interesting design, for example, a picture of the child’s favorite superhero. Provide the best children books at that reading corner.

5. Be a role model parent
Children are the best imitators. When parents diligently read books, there is a chance that the children will follow the habit of their parents. Just providing books to children is not enough. Occasionally, you as a parent should read a story book to the child and on another occasion ask the child to read the story to you to measure the child’s reading ability. This effort will foster the child’s love of reading activities.

On May 18-21, 2018, 42 students and two professors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Singapore Management University (SMU) visited companies of the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group in Pangkalan Kerinci, Pelalawan District, Riau.

This visit is one of a series of activities of the Global Modular Courses, a program of cooperation between The Wharton School and Tanoto Foundation which has been going on since 2013. The Global Modular Courses aims to provide real experiences for students in understanding business opportunities and sustainability practices directly from the field.

Every year, The Wharton School students visit Indonesia and other ASEAN countries to learn firsthand about business opportunities and challenges being faced. Among other things, the participants learn about sustainability practices that have been applied by companies of the RGE Group in Riau.

Participants could see firsthand the sustainability practices in the paper industry starting from plant tissue culture researches at the RGE Technology Center and development of the acacia seeds in the Kerinci Central Nursery. After that, the participants also saw the paper making process at the factory of PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP) to produce PaperOne paper products ready for distribution to more than 85 countries.

Both the students and the accompanying professors were enthusiastic in attending each visit, including Professor Janice Bellace of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who actively put forward questions at every location of the visit.

Participants were also invited to learn how Asian Agri company manages oil palm plantations and processes fresh fruit bunches into oil. An interesting point is the use of natural predators, namely the owls, to cope with oil palm pests.

In addition to industry visits, they also learned how to make batik at Rumah Batik Andalan, a fostered partner of RAPP’s Community Development Program. This batik house has produced a number of batik motifs typical of Riau such as batik Bono, which is inspired by the Bono waves in Kampar River, Riau.

The next activity was a visit to Kuala Terusan Village, Pangkalan Kerinci Sub-district, Pelalawan, Riau to get to know how the local people live around RAPP’s operational areas. In this visit, the participants handed over posyandu supporting equipment to the Village Head of Kuala Terusan, Abi Hurairah.

Aside from the Global Modular Course, another collaborative activity between Tanoto Foundation and The Wharton School is the Global Faculty Development Program. This activity involves the assigning of lecturers of Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Gadjah Mada to study with the professors of The Wharton School on how to undertake researches that can be published in major international journals.