Now, every Thursday morning is a day that is different at Sekolah Dasar Swasta/SDS (Private Primary School) Global Andalan, Pangkalan Kerinci, Kabupaten Pelalawan, Riau Province. All students bring plastic waste to school on that day. Some carry used mineral water plastic bottles up to used detergent wraps.

The habit of bringing plastic waste on Thursday began in August 2017, when the school started developing a waste bank. When introduced, the students immediately understood how this waste bank system works. They understand the various types of waste that can be dumped into the waste bins and various types of waste that can be sorted and collected.

Not only to make them have the habit of sorting waste at school, the students are also asked to sort out the waste in their houses that will then be brought to school. This exercise is expected to instill the habit of wise waste management in their neighborhoods where they live.

The waste bank in SDS Global Andalan is established after a memorandum of understanding between SDS Global Andalan and Bank Sampah (Waste Bank) Permata Bunda Pangkalan Kerinci has been signed. Bank Sampah Permata Bunda is a vehicle of waste management run by housewives in the neighborhood of Permata Andalan housing complex and surrounding areas. Through their creativity, these women create handicrafts that have economic values by utilizing used materials.

Following the cooperation, teachers and students of SDS Global Andalan attended the waste bank management training held by Bank Sampah Permata Bunda. Now they are able to manage their own waste in the school environment.

Waste at school is collected and recorded for each class. After that, Bank Sampah Permata Bunda will buy the waste collected by the students, calculated for each class.

The proceeds of the waste sales are given to each class to meet their own needs, for example, for the purchase of plants or decorations for the classrooms.

“The presence of the waste bank can change students’ behavior to be more concerned about the environment. The presence of the waste bank is also one of our preparations to become a provincial adiwiyata school in 2018, “said Renawati, fourth grade teacher of SDS Global Andalan.

Jakarta, October 20, 2017 – Badan Pusat Statistik (Central Bureau of Statistics) notes that in March 2017, the number of poor people in Indonesia reached 27.77 million, or 10.64% of the total population. This condition of poverty is not only the responsibility of the government, but it becomes a common challenge, including to private institutions.

As a private philanthropic institution, Tanoto Foundation has a vision of being a center of excellence in poverty alleviation efforts through three strategies, namely Education, Empowerment, and Quality of Life Improvement. The Tanoto Foundation’s vision is in alignment with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are among others Objective 1, Alleviation of poverty; Goal 3, Healthy living; Goal 4, Quality education; and Goal 6, Availability of clean water and sanitation.

“Education is the key in breaking the poverty chain between generations. Good education, will also produce good leaders. Taking part in developing Indonesia’s future leaders is a mandate of the founder of Tanoto Foundation, Mr. Sukanto Tanoto and Mrs. Tinah Bingei Tanoto. To implement this message of our founders, Tanoto Foundation provides support through various scholarship programs, “said Belinda Tanoto, a member of the Tanoto Foundation Board of Trustees, at the Tanoto Foundation Scholarship Signing Agreement in Jakarta on October 20, 2017.

“Pak Sukanto Tanoto did not complete his formal education because he had to help his parents. But he upholds two principles, which are first, always learn in every opportunity and second, do not give up easily in the face of difficulties. By upholding these two principles, Pak Sukanto Tanoto has succeeded in developing and leading his business, the Royal Golden Eagle Group, into a world-class corporation, “said Belinda Tanoto.

As a form of support to the development of future leaders, Tanoto Foundation provides scholarships to university students who have outstanding performance but are experiencing economic obstacles. This scholarship program for undergraduate (S1) and postgraduate (S2) levels partners with 35 public and private universities in Indonesia.

To date, more than 3,200 students have received Tanoto Foundation scholarship support. For 2017 admissions, the Tanoto Foundation provides scholarships to more than 350 students. The Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipients, known as Tanoto Scholars, not only receive support in meeting education costs but also various soft skill training to improve their capacity, such as in public speaking, presentations, as well as team leadership and teamwork skills.

Tanoto Scholars are also encouraged to carry out social activities within the Tanoto Scholars Association (TSA) in their respective areas of study locations. The goal is to improve the social caring attitude that is one of the requirements for becoming a good leader. Activities that have been running include Ransel Baca (Reading Backpack) by Tanoto Scholars at Hasanuddin University, Bina Desa (Village Mentoring) by Tanoto Scholars at the Institut Pertanian Bogor (Bogor Agriculture Institute), TSA Teaching by Tanoto Scholars at Mulawarman University, and many more.

Teacher competence plays an important role in student achievement. If you want to see good student achievement, you need to first enhance the competency of the teachers.

In order to enhance the competence and capacity of teachers, Tanoto Foundation has supported the teachers with various training programs. By working closely with the local governments, Tanoto Foundation wants teachers’ skills in classroom learning to continuously improve.

One of the recent trainings was Kelompok Kerja Guru/KKG (Teacher Working Group) Training at SDN 013 Lubuk Kembang Sari, Kecamatan Ukui, Pelalawan, Riau. This activity was held in cooperation with Kecamatan Ukui’s Education Office through KKG Rayon III forum.

More than 50 teachers attended the training. They seemed enthusiastic in participating in various training activities, including evaluating their learning process and developing simple learning media to support active, innovative, creative, effective, and fun learning process.

This activity also involved several teachers who have been trained by Tanoto Foundation to become local facilitators. Participants were invited to identify the results of monitoring and evaluation conducted by Tanoto Foundation. The evaluation results show that the ability to develop learning media still needed to be improved. This result was the basis for discussion in this KKG training.

“This training has made me realize that I thought I have maximally delivered the learning process in the classroom and in reality it was still far from expectation,” said Mrs. Winarsih, a teacher of SDN 014 Silikuan Hulu.

“Here I am motivated to continue to make improvements so that the implementation of teaching learning in my classroom is more contextual and memorable for my students. This activity also equips me to prepare the teaching learning process well, manage the class effectively, develop simple learning media, and conduct proper assessment of learning, “added Mrs. Winarsih.

This article was written by Sulaiman Waruwu, Regional Project Officer of Tanoto Foundation Riau.