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  • UNICEF and Tanoto Foundation Discuss Supporting Vulnerable Children and Adolescents During a Global Pandemic

    UNICEF and Tanoto Foundation Discuss Supporting Vulnerable Children and Adolescents During a Global Pandemic

    As the devastating impacts of COVID-19 unfold across the world, existing inequalities have been exacerbated. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to these impacts, creating an urgent need for collaboration and innovation to ensure the most disadvantaged are not left behind.

    Belinda Tanoto, a Member of the Board of Trustees at the Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981 also a UNICEF partner organisation in Indonesia, joined Henrietta Fore, Executive Director at UNICEF, the United Nations agency responsible for supporting children’s rights across the world, in a recent webcast titled “New Virus, Old Inequalities” to discuss the risks the global pandemic poses to young children. Moderated by J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Head of The Philanthropy Centre for Asia Jean Sung, the two respected leaders addressed the key challenges facing children and adolescents in the wake of the global pandemic, namely healthcare and education, and the need for nation-wide collaborations to overcome these challenges.

    COVID-19 Pandemic Disruptions Impact Access To Healthcare

    Ms Henrietta Fore said the COVID-19 pandemic has caused further delays in the immunisation of children, and impaired access to clean water and health services. These are not helped by the lack of awareness in parents and the community on the importance of these health and medical care essentials.

    The pandemic also poses many worrying challenges to Indonesia’s efforts in stunting mitigation and basic education. Ms Belinda Tanoto shared in the panel discussion that the pandemic has affected poverty alleviation efforts, supply chains, as well as access to essential services to help children thrive. She said, “Community clinics are suspended and frontline workers are interrupted… It’s more important than ever that philanthropists and non-profits step up their activity.”

    Sharing from the Tanoto Foundation’s perspective, Ms Tanoto said that while the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Foundation to deviate from the “normal” way of doing things, it has also allowed the Foundation to think out of the box and “build back better”. This includes supporting the ramped up use of technologies across schools and communities.

    Ms Tanoto cautioned that while many are now dealing with the shorter-term implications of the pandemic, we should not lose sight on the longer-term issues. This applies to increasing the vaccination rate and safeguarding the supply chain.

    Social Distancing Heightens Need for Technology Adoption For Blended Learning

    The panel agreed that the use of technology has been intensified to help the next generation thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. Ms Fore added that while many education systems around the world have not changed in the last 40 to 50 years, the pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated the adoption of new technologies.

    Ms Tanoto said that while the Tanoto Foundation believes in technology as an enabler of learning, there still exist challenges on the ground in transforming current pedagogies to fully embrace and consistently implement blended learning. Blended learning is a form of education that involves the use of electronic and online media to accompany traditional face-to-face learning. The pandemic-influenced circumstances have allowed the Tanoto Foundation to accelerate the move towards blended learning, thereby extending learning time and opportunities for children.

    Sharing insights into the Tanoto Foundation’s engagement with teachers, Ms Tanoto shared that many of them merely used social media and instant messaging to disseminate homework – an indication students were still learning passively. However, with appropriate training through programmes such as Ruang Guru and the Tanoto Foundation’s flagship PINTAR program, school administrators and educators will be better placed to nurture the various literacies in students so they may meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution.

    Collaborations To Support Nationwide Efforts

    The discussion also touched on the importance of public-private collaboration to achieve impact at scale. In basic education, the Tanoto Foundation seeks to implement the best practices in pre-service training at scale. It is working with the Indonesian government to do so and will be assisting with nationwide implementation in a self-funded effort.

    To tackle stunting, Ms Tanoto stated it was important to invest in the first 1,000 days of life – from conception to 2 years of age. Tanoto Foundation is working with UNICEF to reach 24 million “1,000-day households” across Indonesia – an endeavour Ms Tanoto said would require a sophisticated nationwide coordination effort.

    Indonesia is among the five countries in the world with the highest number of stunting cases. While the country reduced its prevalence of stunting from 37.2 percent in 2013 to 27.7 percent in 2019, more than one in four children are stunted and unable to realise their full potential.

    “The government has the most resources to tackle the issue (of improving governance, accountability and scaling up implementation). For stunting, the Indonesian government pledged to invest 15 billion dollars over four years for over 500 districts. No foundation is able to match that. Having worked with the government, we learned there are many things on which we are aligned,” said Ms Tanoto during the panel discussion.

    There are three key points to note when working with the government, Ms Tanoto said: The first, hard evidence, robust monitoring and evaluation; second, soft influence, which is achieved through the implementation of programmes in early-adopter district governments and earning quick wins that are replicable for other districts; and third, lobbying and legislation, in which positive changes are institutionalised and sustained through fruitful partnerships.

    However, hurdles remain. Only one in three children in Indonesia have access to computers. This is why as part of the Tanoto Foundation’s drive to help develop key strategies in elevating Indonesia’s global education ranking, the Foundation is working very closely with stakeholders such as the ministry, district governments, school administrators and teachers to speed up programmes such as adoption of technologies for learning.

    “The pandemic has made a challenging situation more difficult,” Ms Tanoto concluded. “It is estimated that 1.5 to 8 million people will fall below the poverty line as a result of the pandemic, reversing a decade of progress. In addition to focusing on the shorter term consequences, we need to look at the longer-term impact. The time to act is now – we can’t wait. We want to encourage philanthropists to continue what they’re doing today, but to be ready to support disadvantaged children and communities who will also need our support far into the future.”

    To view the webcast, please go to this link: https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/gl/en/insights/giving/supporting-children-and-adolescents-during-a-global-pandemic-with-unicef

    Learning in the safety of the classroom

    Ko Zin Thet

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  • Tanoto Foundation and Yogyakarta State University Collaborate To Improve Basic Education Quality

    Tanoto Foundation and Yogyakarta State University Collaborate To Improve Basic Education Quality

    Yoggakarta State University (UNY) is collaborating with Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981, to improve the quality of basic education in Indonesia with the PINTAR Program.

    This collaboration was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Cooperation Agreement between UNY Rector/President Prof. Dr. Sutrisna Wibawa and Tanoto Foundation Basic Education Director Margaretha Ari Widowati, in the presence of Tanoto Foundation Global CEO J Satrijo Tanudjojo, in the UNY Main Assembly Hall in Yogyakarta on January 13, 2020.

    PINTAR has trained and assisted teachers, principals, school superintendents, committees and lecturers to better work together in improving students’ learning results, Tanudjojo explained. Under PINTAR, pre-service teacher students at the UNY Teachers’ Training Institute (TTI) will receive training so that they will be able to provide quality education by the time they graduate. Tanudjojo added that the collaboration with UNY is meant to facilitate TTI lecturers to implement a practical learning process for the pre-service teacher students.

    “Tanoto Foundation will work with the UNY lecturers and experts to prepare pre-service teachers at TTI to acquire practical teaching experience. So when they graduate, they can create lively and active learning classes. This is in line with the criteria of our MIKiR (Experiencing, Interacting, Communicating and Reflecting) active learning method,”

    Tanudjojo said.

    Meanwhile, UNY Rector/President said this collaboration provides invaluable real experience to the pre-service teachers about school-related issues and encourages them to seek solutions. She also said UNY has developed innovative learning methods which are available for further development in collaboration with Tanoto Foundation.

    “UNY has various findings about learning models which are open for synergy with Tanoto Foundation. The Foundation has a broad experience in education, and our lecturers should take advantage of the opportunity to work together with them in order to improve Indonesia’s education quality,” Prof. Wibawa said.

    UNY and Tanoto Foundation’s collaboration will run until December 2021, with discussions expected after to determine further collaboration in future years.

    Both organisations are also expected to nominate a number of UNY lecturers to become lecturer facilitators who will select partner schools to provide trainings and assistance at, as well as develop collaborative studies with, as part of strategic efforts to position the TTI as a service provider to improve education quality.

    Tanoto Foundation’s collaboration with UNY marks the tenth time it has worked with a partner TTI.

    Ko Zin Thet

  • SDN2 Sukorejo Have Implemented “Freedom of Learning” Through “MIKiR” Method

    SDN2 Sukorejo Have Implemented “Freedom of Learning” Through “MIKiR” Method

    Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim has established four main national education policies through “Merdeka Belajar” or “Freedom of Learning” program. In a media briefing in Jakarta on December 11th, 2019, Nadiem explained that “Freedom of Learning” consists of National Standardized School Examination (Ujian Sekolah Berstandar Nasional/USBN), National Examination (Ujian Nasional/UN), Learning Plan (Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran/RPP), and New Students Admission Regulation (Peraturan Penerimaan Peserta Didik Baru (PPDB) Zoning.

    “Those four main policies will be our direction of learning, focusing on upgrading our human capital quality as instructed by the President and Vice President,” said Nadiem.

    “Three of four components of ‘Freedom of Learning’ delivered by Minister Nadiem on December 11th have been implemented. Positive deviation has been carried out by doing a learning that does not always follow the text book published by the government but adheres to the curriculum,” explained Diannita Ayu Kurniasih, teacher of SDN 2 Sukorejo, Kendal, Central Java.

    Diannita said that SDN 2 Sukorejo has carried out the assignment of fully activating the students’ ability in the last year. “It is proven to improve their ability as expected,” she explained.

    Final assessment based on papers

    The first component of “Freedom of Learning” is a final assessment process referring to USBN results. The assessment includes a written test, but also covers their portfolio, assignments, papers and other work. “This assessment has been carried out. We presented the students a working sheet containing activity and high order questions, not only asking them to answer questions,” Diannita explained. She said that in the working sheet, students are also encouraged to think critically, creatively and to solve everyday problems.

    PISA based basic competencies

    The second component is the UN’s direction on Minimum Competency Assessment and Character Survey. “We have been doing it. We even set literacy and numeric basic competencies as the benchmark of the program’s success. This benchmark is also implemented in TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment).”

    Simplifying Learning Plan

    “In here, teachers are not burdened by standard Learning Plan. Otherwise, teachers have to focus on Learning Plan that engage the students in high order thinking skills. Assessment is also no longer complicated, only focus on what’s being assessed,” Diannita said.

    She later explained, three out of four components from “Freedom of Learning” have been carried out in her school after they completed Program PINTAR training from Tanoto Foundation, an independent family philanthropy organisation founded by Sukanto Tanoto and Tinah Bingei Tanoto in 1981. “Teachers are invited to implement active learning components to their students by “MIKiR” (to experience, to interact, to communicate and to reflect) method. It results in the upgrade of students’ competencies as expected,” said Diannita.

    This article is translated from Kompas.com.

    Ko Zin Thet