Drive Thru a Breakthrough!

Wednesday November 3rd 2021

Getting new school stuff such as crayons, notebooks, drawing books, and stationary is an annual back-to-school routine. With the COVID-19 pandemic emerging and students going back to virtual classrooms, students received learning packs with a drive-thru. Since there are four terms in a year, Al Azhar 55 Islamic Primary School initiated four times of drive-thru in this academic year.

To welcome term 1, the first drive-thru was held on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 the School’s security post. The second drive-thru which took place on Monday, October 12, 2020 was a little bit different. This time, there were two different consecutive times: the first was from 1 p.m to 1.30 p.m for grades 1 and 2 and the second was from 1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. for grades 3, 4, and 5.

On Friday, January 8, 2021, the third drive-thru was held to welcome the second semester as well as term 3. Then, in the last drive-thru of this academic year, an excitement arose because there was also the Entrepreneurship Fest of Grade 3 coinciding with. In this annual event, grade 3 students sharpened their entrepreneurial skills by making and selling choco balls, juices, hand sanitizers, and sandwiches. Online payment with ‘ovo’ application was used along with cash. With the event taking place, grade 3 had an earlier schedule of drive thru from 10 a.m to 11 a.m since they needed to drop the customers’ orders off. Students of the other grades took the learning pack from 1 p.m to 3 p.m along with their orders from the fest.

This learning pack drive-thru was more than the one in the offline school scene. In addition to the learning pack, students also received healthy foods and materials for projects and Science experiments. With all those stuff, the drive-thru did not only equip students with everything needed for the in-class activities, but also became a means of applying responsibility in keeping their own belongings. There is always a silver lining, even in this hard time of pandemic.

Testimony

Prof. Dra. Hj. Suwarsih Madya, M.A., Ph.D.

Amidst the globalized situation which poses challenges of which one is a possible threat to identity, yet provides ample opportunities to excel for those who possess the prerequisites, we need to equip our children as the continuing generation with necessary competencies—affective, cognitive, psychomotor and interactive. In other words, we need to help them grow and develop into total persons and this can be achieved through the whole-child development approach which ensures the development of all potentials. In addition to this is the need for developing some competence which enables the children to communicate globally. All of this will ensure that the children will develop their citizenships both at the national and global levels. How can this ideal development be realized?

If you want to find out about how efforts are made to develop children’s whole potentials, you can come to SD Islam Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta. Here you can see how the four-year old school has grown fast due to the stakeholders’ trust to send their children to study here. With only 54 children in the first year, this school now has 185 students. These students are educated to respect and preserve the social-cultural environment by learning the local language (Javanese, including the script) and arts (dance). Simultaneously, they certainly learn the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) and national content, which is unquestionable since it is compulsory, and English, which has now become a global lingua franca; thus, a prerequisite for successful global communication. More importantly, children in this school also learn to practise their religion consistently. So, in this school children’s identity is rooted in the local culture, with nationalism and global awareness being inherently developed together with reliogiosity.

Does the whole-child development approach at SD Islam Al Azhar still give room for children to excel? In my belief, when all their potentials are developed, children will have a greater chance to excel and I can see the truth in my belief in this primary school. In the last two years, the students have made great achievements in various competitions held at the local and national levels–gold medals in English, math and science competitions (national), silver and bronze medals in IT competitions (national), silver and bronze medals at colouring and swimming competitions (local) to mention some.

In conclusion, SD Islam Al Azhar has given evidence of the right efforts of true education to develop both intelligence and character.

Prof. DR. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.

Testimoni Sebagai Orang tua menyekolahkan anak Di Al-Azhar 55

Sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi orang tua untuk memberikan pendidikan yang terbaik bagi putra putrinya. Tantangan untuk mendidik anak di Era Global dan Digital pun semakin besar, kita tidak bisa lagi membendung segala perubahan yang begitu cepat terjadi, dan harus mempersiapkan anak-anak supaya bisa survive dan sholeh/sholehah tentunya. Saat ini dunia bagaikan kampung, dimana tidak ada batas-batas untuk melakukan transaksi kehidupan, untuk itu anak harus bisa berkomunikasi dengan bahasa universal sebagai modal utama. Disamping itu, pendidikah Ahlak dan Aqidah harus diberikan secara dini sebagai dasar anak dalam menghadapi gejolak gelombang kehidupan. Atas pertimbangan tersebutlah, kami selaku orang tua memilih untuk menyekolahkan putra kami tercinta Hikari di Sekolah Islam, yang menggunakan dua bahasa pengantar, yaitu Al-Azhar 55.

Prof. DR. Budi S.Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.