Several female students of SMK Manba’el-Huda vocational school clean the student boarding house in Pandat village, Mandalawangi district, Pandeglang regency, Banten, Wednesday (9/8). The school stands behind the boarding house. Local residents lend a helping hand to the school by fostering students, volunteering as teachers and other means so that poor students can continue their education.
It seems as though the irony of education refuses to leave this country alone. However, some people are not prepared to give up. They are extending a helping hand to offer educational independence for all.
Bleak! The three classrooms of SMK Manba’el Huda vocational school are far from decent. The doors are split and the walls have holes. The school, which is located in Pandat village, Mandalawangi district, Pandeglang regency, Banten, reflects the grim side to education in Indonesia.However, this is not the case with the enthusiasm of the students within.
A variety of subjects were studied that Wednesday (9/8). Their passion for learning, instilled by the founder of SMK Manba’el-Huda, Sahidin, is evident. The school, built five years ago, is now able to accommodate 59 students.
“Most of the students come from underprivileged families. However, the fee is not of primary importance. What is important is that they want to learn,” Sahidin said.
Limited finances has forced Sahidin to work extra hard. He uses part of his Rp 5 million monthly salary as the principal of SD Negeri Cikoneng 2 Pandeglang to pay for the elementary school’s operational costs. Borrowing money has become the norm for him. “Even though it is not easy, I want these children to stay in school,” he said.
However, in the last few years, his burden has become relatively lighter. Kindness never breaks its promise. Slowly, sympathy started arriving the people in the area.
The school is only around 124 kilometers from Jakarta. Indonesia has been made proud by his efforts.
Sharing sustenance
Help came from many people, including Pandat village resident Apipudin, 85. He fosters two of the Manba’el Huda students. Each foster parent usually funds one ortwo students. Even though he has troubles with his hearing and can no longer walk upright, Apipudin has become the foster parent of Manba’el Huda students Suryana, 18, and Kamaludin, 16.
“I only hold onto religion. Humans must seek knowledge as high as they can,” Apipudin said.
His noble intention deserves acclaim. His house is in a condition no better than the school. A ripped and worn-out sofa and a table covered with a threadbare tablecloth are the only accessories in the house. The floor tiles are no longer shiny. Some of the walls have holes in them.
His monthly income is not much. The pension he receives as a former teacher is around Rp 700,000 a month. Another source of income is the harvest from the 1,000-square-meter paddy field he owns.
Though it is not much, he does not use the money to renovate his house or for other needs. He chooses to share it, instead of keeping it all to himself. “There is always sustenance,” he said.
Apipudin is like a real father to Suryana, who eats three times a day and lives in a shack he provides.
Built next to Apipudin’s house, the stilt shack is modest. At 35 sqm, it has no ceiling, has plywood walls and a bamboo floor.
The house of Suryana’s biological parents is actually not far away, only 500 meters from Apidudin’s house. Suryana’s father has passed away, while his mother sells firewood to earn a living.
“Thanks to Pak Apipudin, I can continue going to school,” he said.
Bearing fruit
Apipudin is not alone in keeping the flame of learning alive among the students. Nasrulloh, a field instructor at the Kaduhejo District Agriculture instructor’s center, Pandeglang regency, has also lent a hand. Nasrulloh is one of the 16 teachers at the vocational school. The difference is, while other teachers are paid by hour, Nasrulloh is happy not to be paid.
“My intention is not to make money, but to feel the satisfaction of sharing knowledge,” he said.
Nasrulloh has been teaching since SMK Manba’el-Huda opened its doors, when Sahidin came to him to consult him about starting the school. As it happened, SMK Manba’el Huda had plans to open an agribusiness and horticulture department.
“I am moved to help. I also teach every Saturday,” he said.
Nasrulloh’s closeness to the students of SMK Manba’el-Huda has also prompted him to be willing to be in debt to seed, pesticide and fertilizer shops. All this is done so that the students have an opportunity to practice the science of agriculture. For example, he was Rp 3 million in debt so that his students could plant cucumbers in March 2016. The debt was paid off after the cucumber harvest came.
Nasrulloh hoped that the students of SMK Manba’el-Huda could at least find some work after they graduated. However, Nasrulloh would be much happier seeing graduates practice the agricultural knowledge they had gained.
“In the graduating class of 2017, three alumni of SMK Manba’el-Huda made use of their agricultural knowledge, even though they were still on their parent’s lands. There was another graduate before that was successful in cultivating sweet corn and managed to buy his own motorbike from its harvest,” he said.
Maman Munawar, the vice principal of SMPN 1 Mandalawangi junior high school in Pandeglang regency, also inspires enthusiasm. Maman, for the past five years, has allowed the SMK students to use a 700-sqmplot as a field laboratory. There, the students enhance their knowledge by planting rice and a variety of vegetables.
“I don’t care what it is used for. Feel free to use it. I am not hoping for anything in return,” he said.
However, Maman was not able to hold back his tears when the SMK Manba’el-Huda students came to give him some of the crops they had harvested.
“I was once given almost two quintals of unhusked rice. I kept some. The rest, I gave to relatives,” he said.
Maman’s profession as a teacher has moved him to provide a learning facility to the students. He wants schoolchildren to study as much as they can for a better future.
Sahidin once said that his neighbors and acquaintances boosted his eagerness to do his best. He believes that if similar acts of generosity were made in other parts of the country, the people of Indonesia could become prosperous together.
