Preschool in Papua: Last but Not Least
How five-year-old Yuli went from working with her parents in the fields to learning with her friends at school.
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SORONG, INDONESIA – As the sun rises over the village of Aimas in West Papua Province, the sound of children singing echoes through the humid morning air. At the PAUD (preschool) Alfa Omega, 28 children are lined up in formation as they start their day with a song and dance.
“Up and down, shake, shake, then turn around,” they recite as they move their arms and legs in unison.
Just as the children finish, 5-year-old Yuli marches up the road to the PAUD a few steps ahead of her mother Felina. “Selamat siang (good afternoon)!” she announces to the rest of the class as she enters through the gate – much to the amusement of the parents and teachers. Despite being the last one to arrive, she quickly drops her bag and finds her place among the group.
As far back as Yuli can remember, she always wanted to attend the PAUD. Her home overlooks where the old preschool used to stand, and she would watch from the window as other children from the neighbourhood would gather in front and play. “Some of my friends told me about the PAUD and said, ‘let’s go!’” she said.
When Yuli asked her mother if she could go, Felina said she didn’t have time to take her. Instead, she would bring her daughter to work every day to help pick fruits and vegetables in the fields before going to sell them in the market. Their days often stretched from dusk until dawn.
Even while working, Yuli would let her playful imagination take over. “She enjoyed going to the fields to pick bananas from trees and look for waterfalls,” Felina recalled.
That same imagination is evident today during playtime activities at school. She gathers a pile of sand underneath a bucket and lifts it up, letting out a gasp with wide eyes as she imagines the shape to be a “honai” – a traditional Papuan house. She looks up with a proud smile as her classmates look over to see what she’s made.
Getting Children in School
While the classrooms today are brimming with the smiles and laughter of children, PAUD manager Zefanya Lusi Setyawati remembers a time when the atmosphere was more subdued. Originally from the island of Java, Zefanya opened the PAUD Alfa Omega shortly after she moved to Papua in 2003. The preschool welcomed 35 students from the surrounding area, but less than half would regularly come.
“The main issue was the parents’ lack of motivation,” she said. “They also didn’t want to wait at the school until class was over to pick up their children.”
Zefanya resolved to change those attitudes and started an awareness campaign with the other teachers supported by UNICEF. They went door to door to meet with families and explain how early education would better prepare their children for primary school.
While their messages were mostly well-received, Felina and her husband were initially unconvinced. Later, when the teachers held a community picnic and provided vitamins to parents for their children, Zefanya became closer to the family. Eventually, she persuaded Felina to change her mind, and Felina began taking Yuli to school every day on her way to work.
“I want the children to be ready for the next level [of school],” Zefanya explained. “I want what’s best for them.”
During her first months at the PAUD, Zefanya remembers Yuli was excited but a challenge for the teachers to manage. Since then, she says, Yuli has made positive strides. “Now she shares with her friends,” said Zefanya. “She always says hi to the parents and puts everything back in its place when she’s finished. She’s made big progress.”
Felina, too, has noticed a change in her daughter. “After school, Yuli is full of happiness,” her mother said. “She always tells us everything she learned that day.”
“I want Yuli to be better than her brothers and sisters who didn’t attend the PAUD,” she added.
For Yuli, going to preschool is an opportunity to learn and play with friends. She dreams of eventually becoming a policewoman. “I want to help take care of people and make them feel safe,” she said.
The hope for children in her community to have a better start in life is what drives Zefanya to go the extra mile in her work. “I want the children to be ready for the next level [of school],” she explained. “I want what’s best for them.”