Those of you, observers of the views of big cities in Indonesia, are certainly familiar with buildings such as Ciputra World and Tunjungan Plaza 6 in Surabaya, Central Park and Senayan City in Jakarta, or Trans Studio Complex in Bandung. Yes, these magnificent buildings are the works of Singapore’s leading architect bureau, DP Architects.

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Apparently, among those many classy works there is one Tanoto Scholar Alumni who has participated in the designs. He is Achmad Nanang Maulana, or familiarly called Nanang.

Nanang completed his study at Architecture Study Program of the Institut Teknologi Bandung in 2008. During his study at the ITB, Nanang received Tanoto Foundation scholarship. After graduation, he immediately joined DP Architects.

As a new graduate, it was certainly not easy for Nanang to enter an international-level architect bureau. But he has made good preparation. He has prepared a portfolio of works by undergoing apprenticeships at several consulting bureaus.

“Before graduating, I have undergone internship programs, one of which was at Urbane in Bandung. From these internship works, I learned a lot about the real world of consulting which has made me ready to take on projects.”

Nanang did not deny that he had to compete with young architects from other countries, given DP Architects’ projects were scattered around the world. According to him, the skills of Indonesian architects are not inferior to those of foreign architects, especially in terms of creativity and graphic design.

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“Our creativity and graphic design skills are above the average of Singaporean architects. However, our weakness usually lies in the lack of presentation skill. Especially in regards new graduates and those who are Javanese, they are usually bashful when speaking in public. The skill that should be honed is presentation skill using English.”

Since 2008, he has been involved in various residential, hotel, commercial and mixed masterplan and architectural projects in Southeast Asia, China, India, Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia.

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The most impressive project for Nanang is his current project, Haliç Tersane, in Istanbul, Turkey. This is a conservation project located in an area with many heritage buildings that will be converted into a world-class tourist destination complex.

“It becomes interesting because I have to study history again. Also, this architecture work requires the exercise of my sensitivity in designing. Unlike the cases with constructing buildings on vacant lands, this project in Istanbul is a new learning experience for me.”

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One point of concern for Nanang in designing any architectural work is to always put in a public space to be utilized by the public jointly and openly.

“Although a building is intended for commercial or private functions, I want it to yet have a part that can be utilized for the wider community.”

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Since September 2017, we, Tanoto Foundation Scholarship recipients who are incorporated in Tanoto Scholars Association (TSA) of Gadjah Mada University, have been running an aquaponics development program in Dusun Kasuran, Desa Margodadi, Kecamatan Seyegan, Kabupaten Sleman, Yogyakarta Province.

The aim of this program is to introduce a new model of farming system that is environmentally friendly. This aquaponics system in simple term involves the conversion of fish waste from the ponds into fertilizers. As such, chemical fertilizers will no longer be used at all in farming.

We find Dusun Kasuran has a great potential for the development of aquaponics system, because in this dusun (hamlet) there are many fish ponds. We have also made an aquaponics installation of easily available materials, such as PVC pipes and plastic buckets.

The result is extremely satisfactory as the tomato plants and sawi hijau (green mustards) we have planted together with the community members thrive.

“We are very pleased with this farming knowledge that we have recently acquired. We also hope that there will be further training on building an aquaponics installation with used materials so that the cost can be cheaper, “said Wartilah, Head of Dusun Kasuran.

The successful implementation of this aquaponics installation will not only affect the Kasuran residents. Some residents of a neighboring dusun (hamlet) are also interested to grow crops with this system. Our next program is to make Kasuran become an aquaponics center and this “virus” of the environmentally friendly farming can spread throughout Desa Margodadi, even in neighboring villages.

In March 2017, Tiominar, a teacher of SDN 115520 Sidodadi, Kecamatan Pangkatan, Kabupaten Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra shared teaching tips on her Facebook page. Mrs. Timi, which is her nickname, shared outside-the-classroom teaching tips that she gained from the Tanoto Foundation’s teacher quality improvement trainings.

It turned out that many responded to the tips, one of which was a teacher in Timika, Papua. Conversations were held in the social media which were then continued via the phone. The tips shared by Mrs. Timi were actually adopted by that teacher from Papua to be applied in his/her school.

This story proves that technology can be a tool to spread a teaching method to teachers throughout the archipelago.

Tanoto Foundation, a philanthropic institution in the field of education, tries to apply technology as an effort to improve the quality of education. Tanoto Foundation works together with Ruangguru, a technology-based education services and content provider, for disseminating teacher training modules across Indonesia.

The approach is through the creation of contents, which contain Tanoto Foundation’s training materials, and uploading them to Ruangguru’s applications so that they can be accessed by teachers wherever their locations are.

Technology with online network opens opportunities for teachers to share knowledge and skills in teaching. To be able to learn from each other, one of the keys is to keep improving one’s capability and competence as a teacher.

Here are three things one can do to improve one’s skills and competence as a teacher:

1. Participating in trainings to increase personal competence
Participating in teacher trainings is one of the best ways to improve one’s quality. There are quite a lot of teacher trainings available, both organized by the government as well as family philanthropic institutions such as the Tanoto Foundation.

You can search information about teacher trainings from government agencies, colleagues of the same profession, as well as from the internet. When an opportunity opens up for you, you should immediately register because the quota for participants is usually limited.

2. Sharing knowledge with fellow teachers
Each teacher will have different knowledge and experience. Share your experience and knowledge frequently with your peers. As the saying goes, knowledge divided will not diminish, instead it will only grow further.

There are many ways that can be used to share knowledge. In a modern time like this, you can share your knowledge both through physical as well as online meetings. You can share knowledge through the social media and also through the creation of a peer group in the instant messaging application. All these ways can be done easily and economically.

3. Testing one’s competence

Every time you have attended a training session, you need to know how much your capability has improved. One way to know one’s capability is by participating in teacher contests such as teaching contests, writing competitions, and competitions related to self-competence. From these contests, you can measure how much progress has been made.