MESSAGE FROM TEACHERS

Monday November 1st 2021

Assalamu’alaikum wr. wb.

Dear students and parents,

A year has passed and covid-19 pandemic is still around coloring our learning journey. It has been a great challenge for us and all people around the globe. It seems to make life tough, and has brought some consequences. Talking about consequences, however, what has made us glad is that you have thought of them as something rather positive. Therefore, it made us easier to figure out ways to go through this.
The most obviously recognized way is making classes online. Online classes have been part of our daily activities. The consequences that follow are that we, teachers need to be prepared with designing the most suitable learning activities and you, students need to get ready with working on your assignments/projects/tasks with less support from us. That being said that you have transformed into independent learners. You need to know that we’re really proud of that.
Being positive about this situation does not mean that we can stop unexpected occurences. We cannot deny that some drawbacks might still come: boredom, laziness, motivation loss, and connection troubles. In addition to that, missing moments to meet friends became unbearable. The presence of online games, once in a while during studying, has also been quite distracting, or to be frank, more interesting to do. Here parents’ role has been indispensable, i.e. to help you stay motivated. Thus, we thank you, parents, so much for that. We will always make the effort to find out any possible ways that may work to help you, students learn.
Nothing but to adapt is the only thing we have to do. It is not easy. It requires our endeavors. However, through the ups and downs, we’ve proved to be able to do that. We can show the world that pandemic is not strong enough to stop us from learning, from making changes, from working out our utmost potentials, and from growing and developing to be a better version of ourselves.
All and all, we would like to appreciate this mutual collaboration of ours, without which we would not be able to go through this difficult times. Thank you for making the whole online learning happen. We would say that we’ve acquaried some skills to survive in the worst condition, the skills that may be very advantageous in the coming years. We believe that we can beat any other unexpected occurences in the future with these acquired skills.

Wassalamu’alaikum wr. wb.

Best Love,
Al Azhar 55 Teachers

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.