PTSK WORKSHOP FOR NORTH KALIMANTAN BORDER EDUCATORS
Have you ever heard of an area called Krayan? Krayan is an area located in Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan that is categorized as a 3T region - Indonesia's frontier, outermost, and marginalized regions. The 3T regions are the territorial borders of the Republic of Indonesia that are characterized by being very far away, difficult to reach and tend to be hampered from various aspects such as development, economy, and education. Nevertheless, these areas have high natural and cultural wealth, and are still very well preserved, just like Krayan.
Located on the border between Indonesia and Malaysia, access to the plains of Krayan is not easy. So far, we can only reach Krayan using small planes with very limited flight schedules. Its location, which is closer to the neighboring country, makes the people of Krayan get more basic needs from the country of Kelantan than from the red and white land.
What about education in Krayan? Based on the Basic Data on Primary and Secondary Education, Krayan has 34 primary and secondary schools with a total of 311 teachers. The difficult access to Krayan means that educators in the region rarely receive training or workshops to improve the quality of education there. Textbooks are also very limited and inadequate to support the teaching and learning process.
With UPT Pendidikan Krayan and several principals and teachers, WWF-Indonesia through funding from WWF-Japan conducted a capacity building program on School and Classroom Action Research (SCAR) last February 25-27, 2020. PTSK is a practical research to improve the quality of education through school and classroom management, learning and teaching, through a research activity that is integrated with the implementation of teaching and learning practices. It is hoped that this program can increase the enthusiasm, innovation and creativity of teachers in implementing and adapting various learning theories and techniques and teaching materials they use.
The 3-day workshop was attended by 25 school principals and several teachers from 5 sub-districts in the Krayan area. At the event, Krayan Education Unit Head Oktavianus Ramli gave a speech. In his speech, Ramli said that this workshop is an opportunity for teachers in Krayan and should be utilized as well as possible.
In the implementation of the workshop, the participants had experienced problems in typing proposals using a computer. This is because Krayan teachers rarely use computers in their daily teaching activities. However, this did not dampen their spirits. The participants continued to enthusiastically participate in the workshop until the end. On the last day, each group of participants completed the proposal that had been prepared and discussed with their group. Afterwards, the proposals were presented to the other groups, the head of UPT Pendidikan Krayan and Mr. Hendry, a representative from the Nunukan District Education Office.
The hope is that with this activity, teachers can teach with interesting methods and students can also enjoy the learning process at school. Principals and teachers can conduct school and classroom action research in their respective schools, so that the learning process is well documented as a reference to improve the quality of education in schools. Thus, the quality of education in border areas can continue to improve.