Indonesia Empowering Youth

 
“The Empowering Youth in Child Education III” project seeks to educate youth and empower them to travel into the deepest rural areas of Sumatra to provide basic educational needs to children in remote areas (ages 4-12), who otherwise would  not have any access to educational facilities.  The youth are given full room and board during the training as well as health care.  The duration of the project is four years, and is split into two phases, each lasting two years.  After the four years, 60 youth will be prepared to integrate into the field of child education in remote areas.  The project not only teaches youth the skills necessary to teach young children, but also provides them with good moral values and principles as well as the desire to serve as “agents of change” in Indonesia, which is suffering from a lack of facilities and dedicated teachers; which represents the larger problems of rampant corruption, widespread poverty, and moral indifference.  The “Empowering Youth in Child Education” project provides youth with the necessary guidance and instruction to empower them to help contribute to the positive development of their society through child education.

The curriculum is divided into four sections, each lasting six months: 

The first semester educates and trains Indonesian youth in developing creativity skills, teaches basic computer skills, English language proficiency, extra curricular activities and the core curriculum.  The core curriculum is focused on “Personal Transformation and Personal Development” and includes lessons on “Developing My True Self” and “Emotional Intelligence”.  The aim of the lessons in the first semester is to help the participants recognize the talents and capacities that they possess and acquire a new vision of their new roles as “agents of change” in society through empowerment and motivation, focused on wanting to serve their communities.  

The second semester is focused on teaching pre school children by explaining the methodology, principles and unique aspects related to teaching pre school children.  The lessons also include basic child psychology, class management skills, virtue development, storytelling skills, computer skills, mathematics and English for pre schoolers, and field practice as a service to the community.  The field practice helps give the youth the opportunity to practice what they have learned thus far in the project and helps them gain classroom experience.

The third semester is focused on teaching elementary school children (grades 1-3).  Some of the lessons taught during this semester include basic administrative skills for running a school, basic health education, how to teach morals and virtues as a code of ethics, team building skills, leadership skills, computer skills, public relations and continued field practices, English and mathematics.

 

The fourth semester is focused on practicing the skills and training they gained from their education in pre schools and kindergartens for the first three months with pre school children (3 – 6 years old) and for the last three months with elementary school children (7 – 9 years old). Young people then absolve their practicum in the Education Centers of Unity in Diversity in North Sumatra and end with a graduation ceremony in Medan. After this, the participants leave Medan to start as teachers in remote areas tand begin their community service.