Celebrating Independence Day

Friday August 19th 2022

By Being True Indonesians and Global Citizens

Friday (19/08/2022). Al Azhar 55 held an Indonesia Independence Day celebration at the Al Azhar Student Center Yogyakarta. Taking the theme Be True Indonesians, Be Global Citizens hopes to increase the sense of nationalism by enriching students with the knowledge of various Indonesian cultures so that later they can introduce local culture to the Global/International level.

By wearing traditional costumes from various regions in Indonesia, the event was attended by all students and teachers of Al Azhar 55. The event began with a ceremony at the Al Azhar Student Center Yogyakarta. The colors of children’s costumes attracted people’s attention who passed by the venue.

In his speech, Mr. M. Miftakhur Risal-the Principal, hopes that with this local wisdom we can bring and introduce Indonesian culture to the global community. Therefore, we can prepare ourselves to become civilized citizens of the world with Islamic values.

After the ceremony took place, the students went on a Parade surrounding Al Azhar Yogyakarta campus. As we walked by, the people who we saw were stunned and attracted.

After the parade, the students were gathered back at the Student Center to enjoy some snacks. When the break time was over, grades 1-3 students went back to school for trying out traditional games like bekel ball, dakon, engklek, cublak cublak suweng and others, while grades 4-6 students stayed at Student Center to present varied Indonesian culture.

Various performances of cultures from NTT, Sulawesi, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua were presented showing off traditional costumes, special foods, traditional houses, traditional dances, etc. enthusiastically. All and all, this event is very exciting and most importantly it can foster a sense of nationalism in students from an early age.

Happy Independence day!

Click for the Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_nwxpT-DsM

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.