Al Azhar 55 Carries Out Webinar in Pandemic with Ibu Roslina Verauli, M.Psi., Psi.

Friday August 5th 2022

Alhamdulillah, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta Islamic Elementary School has successfully carried out a webinar with Roslina Verauli on October 31, 2020. The webinar which was attended by approximately 150 participants, most of whom were parents or guardians of students of Al Azhar 55 Islamic Elementary School in Yogyakarta, brought the theme “Positive Mind, Positive Vibes, Positive Life”. The hope is that parents in difficult times like these days are able to be wiser in responding to any problems that come up, responding and applying growth-mindset, goodwill and positive mental wellbeing for themselves, their families and surroundings.
Positive thinking brings out positive habits, and on the other hand, negative thoughts can bring out negative habits as well. Pascal once uttered a wise sentence, namely “Positive thoughts come from beliefs, negative thoughts come from doubts. True fear is a fear combined with hope, because it is born from beliefs and hopes in God. While false fear is combination of hope and despair because we fear God, some fear losing Him, and others afraid to seek“.
Undeniably, being in a difficult time like nowadays requires a lot of energy to survive. Apart from physical energy, mental and psychological energies also need to be considered. This is because the problems that will come will vary from the form and ways of solving them. In fact, the culprits and victims of each problem are also found to be difficult to distinguish as stated by Noam Chomsky (2001).
Islam has clearly taught its followers to riyadhah (practice) positive thinking, that everything happens by His will and cannot be separated from Allah’s destiny. The adaptation for riyadhah must indeed be applied from oneself, family and the surrounding environment. Moreover, positive thinking has a huge impact on agents who are parents. In front of their children, calm behavior and positive thinking can make the habits and perspectives on various points of view of the child wiser.

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.