Mum on a
mission
If passion
can drive policy – then here’s a parent alert:
the whirlwind Diennaryati Tjokrosuprihatono is on her way with plans for
your little ones.
All benign
and constructive, but certainly set to make a difference in the way Indonesia
raises the next generation. She’s out
to get people to stop and listen – and that includes the government – but that
shouldn’t be too hard for Action Woman.
Dien, as
she is known, wants everyone to grasp the importance of early childhood
education, the precious, fleeting first five years when so much of our language
and identity is formed.
“We need to
change some mindsets,” the academic and government adviser said. “Everything is structured. Traditionally
we’ve thought that a good child is one that’s quiet and doesn’t ask questions.
“It should
be the other way around. Run-around children aren’t being naughty – they’re
exploring. Some parents get shocked when their children come home from kindergarten
saying they’ve been singing and dancing.
“The adults
ask: ‘What? Am I paying for this? My
kids should be learning how to read and write.’ That can come later. Children learn when they’re having fun. Enough that they know numbers and the
alphabet, maybe write their name.”
If all the
junked models of education theory could be converted into play equipment
there’d be enough sandpits and climbing cubes to keep kiddies content forever.
At one end
of the playground are the authoritarians, arms folded, wagging fingers – at the other the laid-back lovers of free
choice. In between is sometimes a
philosophy warzone.
Dien, a
child psychologist and lecturer at Universitas Indonesia (UI) adroitly picks
her way through the chaos with such aplomb she’s been seconded to the Education
Department as a policy adviser.
Television
viewers in Indonesia would have seen her earnestly advocating the advantages of
early childhood education, how it helps youngsters learn the basic life skills
– in particular getting on with others.
It’s a
medium she wants to see better used to educate children constructively and
plans to lobby stations to telecast quality, not trash.
The
research is clear: Children who have
been to pre-school or kindergarten do better when they enter school even if
they can’t read and write.
Mastering
these skills used to be a pre-condition to school entry. The policy has now changed – though Dien
admits the word has yet to reach every hamlet in the Archipelago – or even
every kampong in Jakarta.
“Children
need to discover how to learn for themselves,” she said. “We don’t always need to be told what to
do. Giving children more freedom
doesn’t mean a lack of moral values.
“These can
be learned without scaring the child into obeying. Better to ask the child:
‘How do you think he feels?’ when considering the results of their
actions on others.”
Dien’s
prescriptions don’t just come from her formal training that includes a master’s
degree. She is also a grandmother of
five and a mother of four. (“I never indulged them”) so has the real life
qualifications that give her credibility.
Her first
three children were born within a year of each other so she stayed at home to
nurse and rear. Though her husband
shared duties he works in the oil industry and is often overseas.
After six
housebound years and the kids at school Dien found the routine boring, so
returned to UI.
Then, eight
years after her last birth she became pregnant again. This time she decided to
keep working, taking her little girl to assignments despite the tut-tutting of
friends and relatives. Clearly no harm
was done – her daughter is now studying psychology in Australia and plans a
career as a marriage counsellor.
Dien became
a psychologist when the discipline was still in its infancy. She was driven by
her curiosity about the world and people’s behavior – though a stimulating
childhood must have been a push factor.
Her father was a diplomat and she toyed with
the idea of following his example – though at the time few women held senior
positions in foreign affairs.
She was
born in Paris in 1954 moved to Jeddah and then spent her formative “golden
years” in Baghdad before school in Bogor.
In Iraq she went to a British Council kindergarten, a multi-cultural
environment where she learned English, which she now delivers with high
velocity.
For the
past week (w /end 16 June) she’s been
looking at early childhood education in New Zealand, a country where the
government subsidizes child care. One
surprise was discovering that parents are not shooed away once they’ve dropped
their kids at the kindy gate, but encouraged to join in the activities.
Another
idea she’ll be carrying back to Jakarta will be to look afresh at the
curriculum and ensuring carers get qualifications.
“In our culture
parents have tended to rely on relatives and babysitters, often young girls
with limited education,” she said. “It
would be better if they were qualified and of course parents also want this.
“So many
changes are taking place. We’re in a
transition period. More women are working.
Men are beginning to share in their children’s upbringing and happy to
push prams in malls.
“Quality
children’s books are competing with comics though bed-time reading is still seen as mum’s work.
“Parents
should not feel guilty if they have to work, but they need to be involved with
their children,” she said. “At UI I
introduced child care facilities on the campus where staff can leave their
children.
“Because it
takes so long to cross Jakarta from home to workplace many have become enemies
of the sun, leaving their children before dawn and only seeing them again at
night.
“If
employers supply child care parents and children can spend travelling time
together. Think of the benefits.
“My goal is
to help our children gain their full potential, to have good health and
integrity, to be surrounded by love and love their surroundings, and to be able
to make a contribution.”
(First puiblished in The Jakarta Post 20 June 2012)
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