Category: Expanding Gold Teak

SD Cibeureum is a public elementary school, state-owned school buildings, teaching and learning facilities are provided by the government and teachers who teach also civil servants.

Since the last ten years, SD Cibeureum has had a shortage of teaching staff / teachers so that the government sends teaching staff who are not civil servants, including honorary teachers.

At present, there is one teacher who is a civil servant, Mr. Asep, while Mrs. Nina and Mr. Heri are honorary workers who have not been appointed as civil servants.

Their duties are almost the same, except for Pak Asep, who has an additional assignment, namely taking part in compulsory training held by the government and after that he will share it with the two honorary teachers.

Cibening village’s community expect that government will immediately provide additional teachers for SD Cibeureum, so that the teaching and learning activities run properly.

Sixth grade students were already busy preparing for the national exam from early year. They study at school also study at home. They have to reduce their playing time, even if they gather they usually study together.

They have a difficult time this year, because one of the teachers, Ibu Ilo, moved to Cianjur district to teach in one of the Elementary Schools there.

Currently there are only three teachers teaching at SD Cibeureum; Mr. Asep, Mr. Heri and Mrs. Nina. The three of them must teach for six classes. Incredible busyness for the three teachers, they have to teach two classes every day.

If one of them has to go to the education department in Sukabumi, only two teachers teach them. Students must learn independently so they are not left behind in the lesson and make the work of the teachers not too heavy.

In part of the empty time while waiting for their turn to study with the teacher, students read their school books or story books at the school terrace.

Almost every day, rain falls in Cibening village, morning, afternoon or even all day long and all night long. Extreme weather is happening in the world and it comes also here. Heavy rain with lightning and thunder makes people are difficult to do their routines. They have to wait until the rain stop then they can go to work or go to school.

Teachers should turn on the lights in the classroom to make the rooms brighter then the students can study well. All students study in the classrooms, they can not use the school porch to study because rain makes the floor wet.
Not all students have umbrellas, usually they use taro leaves or banana leaves to go to school when it rains.

Sometimes they go home running under the rain, they are happy to be wet with bare feet. Playing under the rain is something special that they will remember when they grow.

 Pak Asep and ibu Nina, teachers, are preparing students to take part in a competition for elementary students next month in Bantargadung District. All students learn as usual, diligent and full of enthusiasm.

SD Cibeureum’students are enjoying holiday. They do not go anywhere for their holiday, they only stay at home or visit family in other villages. They play football, sepak takraw or read on the school porch.
Rainy season began last November with heavy rain, strong wind and thunder also hurricane. Rain falls everyday, morning, afternoon, evening, all day long or all night long.
GoldTeak provides many reading books for students to enjoy their holiday. They can spend time to play at school yard or read books at school porch.

The children who are six or seven years old can enter the Elementary school, most of the small villages in Indonesia do not have any kinder garden.
Because there is no kindergarten in Cibening village, the children immediately sit in first grade. Early Childhood Education or PAUD is held by Islamic community to give more opportunities for the children to socialize, play and sing and to recognize the simple numbers, alphabet and Arabic letters/fonts.
In contrast to other schools that have complete study rooms, library, teacher’s room, there are even indoor and outdoor sports facilities. SD Cibeurem only has four classrooms for study and a room for the Principal & teachers’ office. Even now they only have three teachers to teach six groups or classes.
The students are get used to with sharing classroom and learn together with the same teacher. But they keep learning like students in other schools. At the end of the school year they also have to take the test and receive report cards from their learning.
Every day is the same, they come to school to study and the teachers always encourage to study by heart.

Summer makes children in Cibening village play in class more often or at home, when it is late afternoon and the air is not hot, they play football in the school yard or in dry rice fields.

At the end of October, it is raining once in a while even though the frequency is very rare, but last week when it rained all afternoon, the children scattered outside the house playing in the rain.

They look for gutters or go to the school yard to play ball. The sound of their shouting was very loudly and noisy as well as the noise of crickets in the evening. Facing the rainy season, Cibening village shows its joy.

Almost every month Goldteak donates story books and recycled items for extra curricular
activities for students. Storybooks containing knowledge, moral messages, natural environment,
inspiration, building character and nationality as well as religion.

Every time they see new books, the eyes of the students glow and shine, they are happy.
Because they know they will find new stories, new knowledge and a new world.
Their expressions and curiosities arouse enthusiasm to try and seek new experiences with new
knowledge. Imagination then becomes rich and makes students compete to be creative.

“Without libraries what we have? We have no past and no future” (Ray Bradbury)

This year SD Cibeureum sent several female students and 2 teachers to take part in the Scouting Competition in Sukabumi District.
Almost every Saturday, students always practice a variety of scouting activities, there were Semaphores using flags to send signals, Morse to communicate, put up tents or make Stretchers of bamboo and ropes.
This time the 2nd and 3rd grade students who took part in the competition, they were confident and showed that they were skilled in using flags and tied ropes to assemble bamboo stretchers and marching rows.
Unfortunately this time the male students did not participate, they were being prepared to take part in the science and math competition.
All felt happy and proud when the students came with 3 awards. The beginning of the school year will make students more eager to learn and practice even harder.
“A scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances” (Robert Baden-Powell)

Boys and girls who study at Elementary school usually make different groups, but in Cibening
village mostly they play and study together.
Different gender never makes any problem with them, they should not be separated in all school activities. They will be in the same group when they are in line of march or praying.
At school, girls can play Football or Volley Ball or even Sepak Takraw as well as the boys. The school teach about the gender and equality of rights since the children in the first grade.
But there is little difference among them, when the girls like to stay home with their mother or their sisters, they boys like to explore new places behind the hill or to go to villages around their village. They make friends and look for opponents to play football or kites.
“Most teachers are not trained in how boys and girls learn differently”. (Michael Gurian)

Cibening village is surrounded by hills and plains, the hills are covered by Teaks and the plains are covered by rice and cassava. All the way to the village, there are cassava and rice fields on both sides, looks green. When the rainy season ends, the weeds and the grass look yellow and brown. Usually when the harvest is over, children play ball and play kites on the dry fields.

There is a small bridge over a river that is not too wide. When the Summer comes, only stones are on the ground, it has no water and no fish. We can find fish when River has plenty of water during rainy season.
The villagers live in simple houses, the wall has half concrete and half bamboo. They plant fruit trees and herbal plants at their yards. They mostly use herbal plants instead of medicine.

Goats, chickens and ducks are much nurtured, when boys are looking for grass, girls are often more likely to help feed the chickens and ducks.