Sekolah¹ Pagesangan: My Learning Story

Diah Widuretno (Founder and facilitator of Sekolah Pagesangan)

A Little Girl Who Can’t Count

 

My first involvement with community education started 25 years ago in 1997. At that time, I organised study group for poor-urban children while doing my bachelor study at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor, West Java. It all started with simple encounter. There was a little girl named Imas, around eight years old, who walked in an out kampong ² to sell snacks door to door every late afternoon. I was one of her frequent customers. Imas had difficulties every time she counted how much I should pay for the snacks or how much balance should she give me at the end. She obviously distressed when it comes to counting. I offered to teach her how to count and she accepted it. After a while, she invited her friends until we got 20-30 kids who joined the study group to learn basic counting. I asked some friends who was doing bachelor study with me to join as teacher. This study group activities went on regularly until 1999 and stopped when I was getting busier with my final assignment at the university. Nevertheless, my encounter with little Imas and doing study group with her imprinted tremendous affect on me to continue on this path: community education and learning.

 

 

 

How to Build Humanizing Education?

 

In the 2000s, I started to learn more about critical education by reading Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich books. These books lit my passion and triggered me to seek further and understand more about the practice of humanizing education. I want to get the answer based on the practice that I experience it myself. In 2001, I decided to join as a voluntary teacher at Junior High School (or SMP for 13-16 years old) Terbuka in Nyungcung village, Bogor regency, which is located in the area of Mount Halimun, West Java. This is one of a village in remote area. It shared line with a forest and has limited public facilities including access to education, health center, and transportation. Education of almost all kids in Nyungcung village stopped only until elementary level (or Sekolah Dasar for 6-12 years old). After this level, they were immediately work as farmers, illegal gold miners, or join informal labour force at nearby cities. I tried to accompany few SMP kids, who began their teenager age, to understand better their interaction with their environment and surrounding, as well as the social dynamic where they are growing up by ‘experiencing it myself’ what they are learning. I embraced this process even though my understanding of humanizing education is still limited, but I determined to practice Freire’s ideas.
From this process I started to grasp the education problem in Indonesia. Not only it has uneven quality and access across places and social groups in Indonesia, and its learning process was also not yet able to prepare students to think critically or empowered them to deal with problem in their daily life. Come to this understanding was precious awakening moment for me and I owed this to Nyungcung communities. I got inspired because I started to know what was happening but at the same time felt uneasy as I needed to think more about what should I do about it. After much reflection, I promise to myself that wherever place I will live, I shall fill my life practicing and building an education model (school) that is humanizing particularly for marginal groups. In 2003 with a heavy heart I moved to Yogyakarta and parted with the Nyungcung community.

 

1. School.

2. Village or hamlet.

 

 

 

Initiated Sekolah Sumbu Panguripan (SSP)

 

Around 2003-2007, while taking care of my own kid I took some freelance jobs as a facilitator and did some research related to education in Gunungkidul regency, Yogyakarta. Through this job, I started to know Gunungkidul area. My earlier promise haunted me, urge to realization. I began to write and tidy up illustrations of education concepts in my mind. In November 2008, one of my friends introduced me to Wintaos village in Gunungkidul and encouraged me to realize the education model which I had thought of and written already.

After some visits to Wintaos, I determined to implement this education model. In the beginning, I was not alone but with other six friends and all of us worked voluntarily and willing to collaborate. Together we initiated an education model as part of a community named Sekolah Sumbu Pagesangan (SSP). I started to organize kids at the elementary school level in Wintaos. We tried to adjust our teaching material based on the curricula of formal schools. Facilitators taught lessons similar to formal school such as economics, history, and mathematics but through different learning methods. For example, in the history lesson, we didn’t touch Indonesian history in general but was trying to zoom in to their own community and village history. As for economy lesson, we learned how food was being produced, consumed, and distributed. We also had entrepreneurship lessons which quickly became everyone’s favourite because we practiced them directly. SSP activities are inclined to a non-formal education model.
Around 2008 in Wintaos, the rate of kids dropping out of school was high. The majority of kids finished their education only at elementary school, and few others finished junior high school. Once they graduate from junior high school, there are only limited options for them, either they join the informal sector in nearby cities or marry off. To prevent them from joining the work force and getting married at such a young age, we tried to mobilise funds as scholarships for some of them. These funds came from us as volunteers and individual donors who are sympathetic to our mission.

 

 

 

Voluntary Management and Learning Practice in SSP

 

SSP was managed on a voluntary basis. As volunteers, we are not getting paid for what we did for SSP and to survive we are doing other paid jobs. It is normal for us to have our main job as a source of our livelihood. For SSP, we are committed to providing some minimum working hours per week. I think it was best in this way and not to legalise SSP into a foundation, NGO or else. I imagined SSP as an independent organisation or even a social movement nurtured by the community using its own resources. However, voluntary work became harder for most of us. Almost in its third year, all volunteers resigned. I fully understood their decision and decided to carry on myself.
SSP continued its learning practice with a focus in strengthening kids’ skills and mentality. Value such as participative, democratic, respect for each other, appreciation and solidarity was our guidance. We organised learning in such a way that we could learn from anything and use any material available within our reach. I encouraged the kids to not to depend on ideal facilities and tools so it will limit our learning. On the contrary, we utilised any resources in our surroundings as our learning material. We thought that nature was the best place to learn. All learning activities always be done in participative ways where all kids and I can discuss everything. I often prepared learning methods through fun games. It was important to build a learning environment that is enjoyable for kids, so they are motivated to come and not bored.

 

 

 

Move Out from the Learning Hall

 

SSP got a learning hall (pendopo) on a private plot of land from one of it’s sympathizers when it was established. However, in 2012 there was a family conflict among the descendants over that land and we decided to move out. After a series of discussions, parents and kids agreed to take turns offering their house as a place for our activities. From that time onwards, we moved from one house to another as we organised our learning.
Even though we moved a lot, our learning process was not too affected. We minimised the hustle by setting up a working method through cadres. These cadres are teenagers in our learning group has more responsibilities to arrange the learning program. They prepare to learn materials and tools if needed and assist fellow friends during the program. I spent a lot of time mentoring them with a personal approach based on their character and personality. As a reward, I contributed small financial support to help them a bit with their formal school tuition. All of the cadres were taking a class in formal school so all SSP activities were always organised after school hours or on the weekend.

 

 

 

The Benefit of Using Parents’ Houses

 

Learning in parents’ house made me understand the rhythm and daily activities of families and households in Wintaos. I also can build an intense and closer relationships with each family. As I often came and organised activities with them, we felt connected as relatives. If there was an event or activities in the village which finished too late, they took a turn to offer a place for me to crush. I cooked and ate together with them. From this, I know what kind of food they eat daily, how they grow them in the field, and their tradition of managing and saving their harvest as a reserve from one season to another. Sometimes, because our relation was so close, they shared family problems. I maintain good and respectful relationships with many families in Wintaos. We considered each other as families.

 

 

 

The Last Chapter of SSP

 

Although all volunteers stopped their contribution in 2011, there was one person who still thought he had ownership over SSP and wanted to direct SSP activities. In December 2013, I had a disagreement about SSP as a social movement with this particular person. I decided to resign as SSP volunteer. My resignation means that SSP is over as I was the only one left so far to run SSP. After weeks without showing up in Wintaos, kids started to miss our learning activities and were looking for me. I came to see them and their parents. I explained everything to them about what was happening. It was a very emotional moment. We talked no less than three hours. The ambience was sad and we were crying together. Both kids and parent declined my decision to left them and Wintaos. Some of them said “It is not a problem for us if SSP finished as long as Mbak³ Diah stay with us.”

Reflecting on their reaction, I started to wonder. Is it because of genuine relationships over those years or they valued what SSP doing so far as they saw benefit in it? Nevertheless, the kids showed determination to continue our learning and asked me to stay. As for myself, because I love what I have been doing with them and have already learned a lot through SSP, I was gladly staying but this time I renounced SSP. Kids and their parents agree on this and suggest taking a new name. Together with the cadre, we discussed the reform plan including changing the name. In March 2014, one of parents who was also elderly of the village named our new learning community the Sekolah Pagesangan (SP).

 

3. Older sister. The word , it is used by the Javanese as a term of respect  

 

 

 

Reflection and Willingness to Learn from the Past

 

During the reform of the new learning community, I arrange my activities rhythm to provide a space for reflection on processes and experiences during my SSP time. I felt uneasy thinking of the majority of the cadre, whom I intensively mentored and supported to pursue their formal education, leaving the village after graduating from senior high school. They went to Solo, Yogyakarta, or Magelang to work in factories or take informal jobs. It’s all their right and decision which I fully respect. Even so, it left me with questions about our approach this far:

Does SP only become a learning space for those kids who will be a labourer in factories?
Is there any better options for these kids’ livelihood in the future other than as urban worker?
What is the purpose that we want to achieve through SP?
What kind of learning do we intend for SP?
Can SP become a learning space for kids and young people that is empowering and encouraging them to embrace life realities?

All of these questions popped-up in my mind constantly. I started to see that activities and programs conducted by SSP in the past five years didn’t bring so much change. I felt there was something wrong when young people who were active in SSP decided to work in the cities even with hazardous working environment. My reflection process formed a crucial question: is it possible to build a learning space that supports kids to explore and develop not only their personal potency, but also Wintaos as a village itself and its natural resources? I 3 Older sister. The word , it is used by the Javanese as a term of respect thought Wintaos had a lot to offer for the kids in the future, so they don’t need to leave their village and be able to live a good life in a safe environment.

Such reflection forced me to admit the ‘mistake’ of SSP volunteers, including myself, during our time running SSP. A mistake because SSP was established based on the perspective and assumptions of its volunteers, who were all non-Wintaos people, that we knew best for the learning community in Wintaos. Volunteers decided the form of activities, curriculum, and objectives, including material for each lesson and thought it was the best for the participants. As it turned out, what we thought was the best and well-planned approach was not enough for preparing the kids’ future. They still don’t have any other option than working as labourer in cities. The learning process in SSP was not enough to challenge the imagination that prosperous and successful life can be achieved only in cities.
Although it was a bitter reflection, I did not regret what we have done in the past five years through SSP. On the contrary, I thought SSP process was necessary to know that not all well-thought and planned activities not always matched what community needed. I decided to take all lessons learned out of this ‘mistake’. Now I understand better that in order to solve real-life problems, education shall answer what participants needs. If the learning process is detached from reality, participants are unable to respond to real life problems quite well. Like they are not rooted to the ground, but clouded in space.

 

 

 

Participatory Planning for Learning Programs

 

My reflection earlier was important for the provision of SP’s future journey. I tried to communicate my concern with the remaining SP members. At that time (around April 2014), there were about 17 members, and 7 of them were cadres. We discussed it, both in private casual chats and during group discussions. I also asked them what their plans were for the future. I also asked about what form of support from SP they needed. These questions continue to evolve into planning for the future of the individual and the community. Next, each member identifies what their personal plan is and what is needed from SP as a learning medium.

Initially, the conversations grew all over the place because it turned out that their aspirations were diverse and many. Finally, I invite them to be more realistic by selecting them based on the existing resources and supporting capacity. The conversation went on for several stages, frequent and continued at every opportunity that we got. At some point, I started to invite them to look back and discuss their own potency or what is most often encountered in their village. After several chats, we found and agreed that farming activities, and harvests in each season were the things we could easily find in Wintaos. Some of them are often involved in activities in the fields or processing crops at home. After deliberations, we finally concluded that we would make tetanen⁴ and food culture, which includes farming and entrepreneurship based on food processing, the main theme of learning at the Sekolah Pagesangan.

Based on the theme of agriculture and farmer entrepreneurship, at that time we developed short-term learning programs that have been implemented since July 2014, such as learning to farm on dry land, and selling thiwul⁵ and tempeh koro6. I asked the children to identify the facilities and infrastructure we needed for the program and how to fulfill them. For example, for the Farming Learning program, we identify the need for land, agricultural tools such as hoes, gathul, sickles, seeds to be planted, as well as manure. The children were willing to bring tools from their respective homes. The problem is that we don’t have land yet. The children suggested that a parent meeting be held to discuss this learning program.

 

4. Farming activities. 

5. Granulated cassava. 

6. One type of pulses. 

 

 

 

Involving Parents in Learning Programs at SP

 

At that time, I got used to the routine of meeting parents to discuss the development of children’s learning activities. The parents’ meeting about the land at that time agreed that the Marsini, Hariyanti and Wulan families provide land for our learning. Even though the land is not very large, it can be used for the children learning activities. For me, parental meetings are important as a way to find out the wishes and expectations of parents for their children. As far as I know, most parents actually expect their children to not stay in school for long. Parents expect their children to work as soon as possible so they can earn money for the family. I invited the parents to have a dialogue. I explained that through SP, children could have sufficient knowledge and skills so that they can be equipped to start their own businesses and be independent. I also tried to convince them of the importance of children having sufficient skills before being expected to work.

Some parents accepted and understood what I said, but there were also those who refused and did not support SP activities. But me and the kids tried to stay positive. As long as there are children who want to learn and their parents support them, the SP activities will continue. Most parents expressed their support. Like Murni’s parents, who are willing to be tutors for children’s activities to learn how to make tempeh koro. Around seven mothers are also willing to teach the children to learn to make thiwul.⁷
Meanwhile, male guardians or fathers began to be mobilised in farmer groups. Mr. Kuncoro, one of the farmers and agricultural activists living in Sleman, neighboring regency, helped a lot in organizing and facilitating the Sinau Tani which was attended by many men and male farmers in Wintaos. Several sessions of Sinau Tani activities were held at Wintaos. The gentlemen’s group also has regular meetings every selapanan⁸ to discuss all issues related to agriculture. Sinau Tani9) and gentlemen’s group meetings have been suspended since the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

7. Thiwul is a staple food typical of Gunungkidul made from cassava.

8. 40 days interval.

9. Study group related to agriculture and farming issues.

 

 

 

Starting a Business Together

 

The activities continued. The children started the business of wrapped thiwul, instant thiwul and tempeh koro which were started to be marketed in the city of Yogyakarta and Bantul. Initially, parents were involved in supporting learning programs for their children, such as being tutors, resource people, and providing learning facilities and infrastructure, but gradually they also became interested in getting involved in small businesses initiated by children. We agreed to divide the tasks. The children are part of the product marketing department, while the mothers are the ones who produce the wrapped thiwul, instant thiwul, and tempe koro. We started the business from scratch and utilised all that we could, including Facebook.

 

 

 

Bitter Sweet of Caderization

 

2015 was a dark year for SP. The two main cadres who held the leading roles of other friends and had been accompanying me for years chose to leave the SP and left the village to become urban workers. Their resignation was a serious blow to me, who had been accompanying them since 2009. Their resignation also had a profound impact on the SP children’s group. They were the ones who coordinated the activities of the SP children. Even though I was heartbroken, I tried to accept this as part of the struggle. But on the other hand, there werethings that cheered me up. Mothers were getting active. The group of mothers had increased its membership. Mbak Muji who produced instant thiwul joined. Also joined were some mothers who produced mocaf.¹⁰ The production of glapek¹¹ flour and tempeh koro was also continuing.

 

10. Modification cassava flour.

11. Shreded dried cassava.

 

 

 

Sekolah Pagesangan Women Group

 

Women are organized into a group for small businesses that are managed together. We develop a system that is structured in a participatory manner. I propose values such as openness, honesty, participation, and kinship as guidelines in running a business. In this joint effort, we deliberately did not create a vertical company structure where there is a top leader. The organizational structure is set up horizontally where each production business unit is managed by a group and there is cooperation with the marketing department. Currently (2022), there are about ten business units of the processing group, namely instant thiwul business, banana sale (sweet preserved banana), koro or benguk tempeh, mocaf flour, cassava chips, banana chips, cassava crackers, lempeng¹² thiwul, and harvest produce such as brown rice, green beans, peanuts, gudhe beans, etc. In total, there are 26 types of products (processed and agricultural products) marketed by Kedai Sehat Pagesangan (KSP).

Time goes on. Day by day we continue our activities in SP and never stop. Next year, SP will have reached 1.5 decades since it was initiated. The children I have mentored since 2009 have now become adult women. This year, Murni is even married. Lifia is continuing her education at a university in Yogyakarta and is now in her third year as a college student. So does Heni who is in her freshmen year at the same university as Lifia. They were both awarded scholarships from the university. Until now, they are still loyal to the education process in SP. They also devoted their time to taking care of the KSP.

The women’s group originally consisted of parents of SP students, but now the number of members has also increased. Not only producing food and processed products from the harvest, they are also now becoming the host of the Urip ing nDeso (Live in) program, which is one of the SP’s learning programs for external communities. The SP movement continues. We are also increasingly determined to learn to strengthen the local food system in Wintaos.

 

12. Kerupuk or chips.

 

 

 

Children and Youth Group

 

Children’s groups and youth groups basically have similar activities, only more adapted to their abilities according to age levels. The vision and learning objectives of children and youth groups are to know themselves and their environment, to understand their origins and to be proud as village children, to recognize problems and potentials from themselves and their environment, and to learn to be independent and empowered in the village. The activities of the children and youth group include getting to know vegetation, nurseries, gardening and managing gardens, cooking, food processing, outbound, literacy and traditional games. SP cadres who have grown up are now helping to facilitate and manage children’s group activities. Routine children’s activities are carried out at least on Saturdays and Sundays.

The little cadre group is part of the group of children, selected because they are considered to have the willingness to learn and be mentored further to help the SP organisation. It is hoped that the young cadres who undergo the regeneration process will be able to become actors or successors of community facilitators in the future.

 

 

 

If Someone Asks, What is Pagesangan School?

 

Sekolah Pagesangan is a learning community that seeks to develop models and ways of learning towards empowerment in the village. SP is not a formal school, nor is it part of non-formal education, nor is it related to government programs or projects from certain institutions. The activities and learning processes that are carried out become part of the dynamics of the daily lives of their members. The learning process is carried out in order to answer the needs and problems of the community. SP is organized into three groups (women’s group, children’s group, youth/cadre group). Each group determines what they need in the learning process. The learning process and activities are carried out on a group basis. Through activities in these groups, contextual education is internalized and carried out, where members of the group learn to discover themselves, and their potential, and assemble the process of self-empowerment from the village.

The empowerment of SP as a community is part of the learning process as well as the process of solving problems. Various fundraising efforts and other forms of self-help were developed as part of the learning process to be independent, as well as efforts toward empowerment. Several fundraising processes to support the developed program include developing a joint business managed by KSP. Around 10–20% of the profit from product sales is used to support the SP program. SP also developed non-soy tempeh workshop classes, Gunungkidul cuisines, and literacy on food and agriculture issues through live-in programs and workshops related to contextual education issues. Donations (time, thoughts, energy, and funds) and mutual assistance from SP members, volunteers, and sympathizers are important resources for SP activities.