Symbol of Local Wisdom Used in Randomisation at Keerom School

03 November 2014

On 30 October 2014, Keerom’s Head of Education, Stanley Moningka, formally opened awareness raising and randomisation events at a school in Waris District, Keerom. This was then followed by the dissemination of regulations by the Secretary of the Department of Education, Rowi Muhammad. In his speech, Moningka confirmed that the local government had allocated finances to help support teachers. Unfortunately, the teachers often ignore these incentives. To overcome this, every Monday, Friday and Saturday, education officers will make unannounced visits to the school. Since October, this initiative has been implemented in Kibay village, Sangke, and will soon be implemented elsewhere.

Similar activities were also held on 31 October 2014 in East Arso district. In addition to Moningka, Muhammad and BAPPEDA, also in attendance were heads of schools, teachers, heads of villages, village secretariats, religious and traditional leaders, as well as parents and young people.

What differentiated this event from those held in other districts was the use of small, 15 cm long pieces of bamboo, which acted as symbols of local wisdom. Each bamboo stick was filled with paper and then tied with a red and white ribbon that symbolised Indonesia.

Through this symbolic act, it is hoped that the barriers between people and the programme will be eliminated, thereby helping build a sense of shared ownership. Randomisation was performed jointly and witnessed by the school head, teachers and other participants. Moningka signed the results of the randomisation, which also served as the basis for the issuance of a Bupati Decree.