INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON HERITAGE EDUCATION
IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN INDONESIA
University Club UGM, 23 January 2010
Co-organized by
Indonesian Heritage Trust/Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia
The Netherlands Institute for Heritage/Erfgoed Nederland and
Center for Curriculum Dept. of National Education/Pusat Kurikulum DEPDIKNAS
in collaboration with
Center for Heritage Conservation
Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering
Universitas Gadjah Mada
BACKGROUND
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on May 2008 by the chairperson of Badan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (BPPI, Indonesian Heritage Trust) Setyanto P. Santosa and the director of Erfgoed Nederland (The Netherlands Institute for Heritage) Richard Hermans at the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta. One of the focal points in the MoU is a project named Heritage Education in Primary Schools in Indonesia. The project aims at by making children in Indonesia aware of the rich variety of heritage that surrounds them, so that they can have better appreciation. As a result, it is expected that the next generations will have better awareness that passing on heritage to future generations as a shared responsibility. Public awareness is a key factor in the future heritage conservation. But more importantly, the project wants to establish that heritage is fun to learn about and can be used in many different ways in education in general and elementary schools in particular.
Connection between school subject and the school curriculum is one of the experiences that was gathered through heritage education that the Netherlands has been implementing since the last decade. The Netherlands Institute for Heritage is one of the organisations that has these experiences because it involves in several heritage education projects.
The project on heritage education takes place form January 2008 till December 2009. Yogyakarta has been chosen as the location for the project. The reason is because Yogyakarta has been an active centre for heritage conservation. And that there are a lot of heritage in Yogyakarta and its direct vicinity. For example there are the Kraton Yogyakarta, the famous temple of Prambanan, several heritage districts such as Kotagede, Jetis, Kotabaru, nJeron Beteng, Pakualaman, etc. Also Yogyakarta is considered as a cultural centre, famous for its batik hand made, gamelan music, wayang puppets and various types of traditional as well as contemporary crafts. Furthermore, Yogyakarta that is known as student city is surrounded by many small villages. By getting schools from the city and from the villages involved, methods which can work in different circumstances can be identified. The experiences and materials that are developed within the project in Yogyakarta will be shared to other parts of Indonesia.
The Center of Curriculum Department of National Education, the Department of Culture and Tourism demonstrated the same enthusiasm as that BPPI, the Netherlands Institute for Heritage, as well as schools in Yogyakarta and its surroundings. Besides national governments, local government that is responsible for education, like the Education Agency Yogyakarta Special Territory also fully supports the project. They assist BPPI in selecting schools that will participate in the project.
Within 2 years, a comprehensive program has been organized, started from developing a manual concerning heritage education for teachers. This developed manual is one of the goals of the project. As Indonesia is rich of natural, cultural (tangible and intangible) heritage, and saujana (cultural landscape) heritage (Charter on Indonesian Heritage Conservation, 2003), a systematic manual is formulated to support the clear understanding of heritage in all variety for teachers. A practice of heritage education implementation at school has also been organized in this project after the teachers had heritage education training. To achieve the success of the programs a series of workshops have been organized, such as:
– Workshop on the development of heritage education manual for teachers,
– Training workshops for teachers,
– Monitoring and evaluating the implementation of heritage education at schools,
– Developing and implementing the series of heritage education for students by teachers that involves the creative team in producing these heritage education books.
The training on heritage education for teachers consists of identifying different forms of heritage and practical examples. The training combines theoretical lectures and field trips. The participants got the assignment to make a school plan for heritage education. After the training, the participants are expected to bring the school plan in practice. The teachers are also making their own heritage lessons. A forum of heritage education teachers had been established during the training workshop for teachers in November 2008. Dissemination of this project has organized through producing news letters, web site, talks show in the television, and articles in the mass media.
BPPI, the Netherlands Institute for Heritag, and the Center for Curriculum Department of National Education Republic of Indonesia have worked together for 2 years in this project by combining the network in Indonesia and the knowledge on Indonesian heritage with the experiences of heritage education learned in the Netherlands. This project lays a basis for bringing Indonesian children in contact with heritage and seeing their surrounding from a whole new perspective. Now, this project is about to end. BPPI, the Netherlands Institute for Heritage and the Center for Curriculum Department of National Education will share all experiences in conducting the heritage education through an International Seminar. It is hoped those experiences can inspire and help other regions in Indonesia to bring heritage to schools. They can even serve as examples to other countries starting with heritage education. Hopefully a new generation of heritage lovers will be the final result!
DISCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
BPPI, the Netherlands Institute for Heritage, and the Center for Curriculum Department of National Education Republic of Indonesia collaborating with the Center for Heritage Conservation, Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada will organize an International Seminar on Heritage Education in Primary Schools in Indonesia on January 23, 2003, at the University Club, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta. This international seminar will present all the experiences in conducting the heritage education project to schools, heritage organizations, national and local governments, and international related parties, and general public.
To further disseminate those results and experiences and to accommodate the generous interest from the local governments on heritage education for schools, an open discussion for local governments from several parts of Indonesia and exhibition will also be organized. The open discussion on Heritage Education for Schools in Indonesia will be held on January 22, 2010 at the University Club, Universitas Gadjah Mada, and the Exhibition on Heritage Education in Primary Schools in Indonesia will be on January 22 – 29, 2010.
Update International Seminar on Heritage Education in Primary School
For more update, please visit our gallery : http://chc.ft.ugm.ac.id/gallery/seminar-internasional-pendidikan-pusaka-di-uc-ugm-yogyakarta-2010/
