When she started to teach in 1992, Sugiarti aspired to make her school shady, clean and beautiful.  Her aspiration was achieved when her school, SDN 008 Desa Air Putih, Kecamatan Lubuk Batu Jaya, Kabupaten Indragiri Hulu, Riau, became the winner in Tanoto Foundation’s Pelita ASRI (Safe, Healthy, and Environmentally Friendly) program clean school competition in the past 2016.

In addition, her school has also become a favorite in the region.  It is proven by the rising number of students who register each year. For 2016/2017 school year, the total number of students reaches 315 persons.  It rose 20% from the previous year.

Sugiarti is not originally from Riau.  She came in groups with other families from Wates, Yogyakarta, being participant of the transmigration program from the government in 1989.  Her first arrival in Riau was a difficult period in her life.

She remembered when the transmigration officer asked her group to around to join in the housing allocation drawing.  When passing on the hilly roads, Sugiarti saw from afar small houses amidst the lush forest.  She prayed in her heart that her house would not be one of those.

Fortunately, Sugiarti got a house not far from a local resident settlement.  She also received a patch of oil palm plantation land, which she has been cultivating up to the present with her husband.  In 1992, she was asked to teach in the newly constructed school as an honoraria-based teacher.  Despite that, she is now performing the role as the implementer of the school head’s tasks.

“The learning environment was far from being conducive,” remembered Sugiarti.  “In the past we taught in wooden building that was partitioned into 3 rooms.  In each room, two classes ran in parallel which made the students and myself had to divide our focuses for learning.”

Over time, with the help of the government as well as the involvement of the village community, the number of schoolrooms of SDN 008 Air Putih slowly increased.  In 2011, SDN 008 Air Putih joined as Tanoto Foundation’s partner school and received various training through the Education Quality Improvement Program (Pelita Pendidikan Program).  The first training that the school participated in was the Pelita Pustaka.  After the training, Sugiarti together with the other teachers transformed the small library room into a permanent building.

“In the beginning, our library was just a small room from wood and we did not know how a library should be managed.  After participating in the Pelita Pustaka training from Tanoto Foundation, we worked together with the community in an effort to have a permanent library building and to be able to manage activities in the building” said Sugiarti.

To be continued to Beautiful School, The Realization of Ibu Sugiarti’s Dream (Part 2)

Sugiarti’s love for her school makes her want to create a specific characteristic for her school. When her students to learn in SDN 008 Air Putih, they should have this specific characteristic.  Because Sugiarti very much cares about the environment, she slowly created the environment caring school program.

To support greening, one of the activities obliges each student to bring one plant to school one plant and each student is responsible for his/her plant.  Like a tit for tat, in 2014, SDN 008 Air Putih received the Pelita ASRI (Safe, Healthy, and Environmentally Friendly) training from Tanoto Foundation.

“I am very happy.  Apparently there is a program that can support my desire.  Not only we were trained, but we were also asked to visit sample schools to see directly what clean and green school practices were.  I still remember our visit to Sekolah Alam Pelalawan then.  We became motivated to implement the training results with the other teachers,” said Sugiarti.

After having participated in those training, the school continued to make improvements.  In addition to greening the environment, Sugiarti created the saving wastes program.  Each student has his/her own wastes account.  Large accounts will enter into a drawing each month to get prizes in the form of learning supplies.

To support more creative learning process, Sugiarti and the other teachers also received the Pelita Guru Mandiri training.  In this training, the teachers are trained to implement learning method that is active, innovative, creative, effective, and joyful, by utilizing learning media available in the surrounding areas.

“Due to the Pelita Guru Mandiri training, we are already applying out of the ordinary learning pattern.  The students no longer sit in rows while the teacher makes speeches in the front of the class.  Now they sit in groups and actively move around for discussion,” explained Sugiarti.

Because of the hard work of Sugiarti and the other teachers, SDN 008 Air Putih has now pocketed A accreditation.  School facilities have also become better as adequate number of classrooms, a small library and also toilets are now available.  Now Sugiarti is reaping the realization of her dream of making her school become beautiful, shady, clean, and green for the purpose of supporting better education environment in her village.

Read also, Beautiful School, The Realization of Ibu Sugiarti’s Dream (Part 1)

Innovation is vital for the nation to progress, which is why Tanoto Foundation launched the Tanoto Student Research Award in 2007. To celebrate the contest’s 10^th anniversary, here are 10 of the entries from this year’s event.

1. New uses for bamboo

Bamboo has long been used as a raw material for souvenirs, but the wood is cylindrical, jointed, and hollow, which limits the type of objects it can be fashioned into.

Therefore, Bhakti Jayadi, Wahyullah, M Fadli Alam and Dr Suhasman from the Faculty of Forestry, University of Hasanuddin, have developed a technique to laminate the wood, dramatically increasing its potential uses and improving its aesthetic value.

2. Precision farming with drones

The limited use of technology in Indonesian agriculture prompted Josua Christanto, Rahmi Karmelia, Ahmad Dhiyaaul, M Luthvan Hood and Mery Astuti from the University of Indonesia to develop a precision farming system using drones. The unmanned vehicles help farmers monitor the condition of their crops quickly, helping them make more effective decisions on planting, pesticide use and harvesting.

3. Wooden boards from palm fronds

Demand for solid wood in Indonesia amounts to 46 million m3 per year, but domestic production has so far only reached 35.29 million m3 per year. In order to meet the demand, Indra Herman, Dimas Ramdhani, and Yessy Nurmalasari of the Department of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University have developed an environmentally-friendly technique to fashion solid wood from palm fronds.

The composite boards can be used as wall panels and other popular applications.

4. Telehealth platform for community healthcare

Providing healthcare in Indonesia’s remote areas can be a challenge: one that the team from University of Indonesia aims to address. Their project is a medical kit designed to be used in the field by people with limited medical training. Comprising equipment including blood pressure and sugar testing kits and an automated defibrillator, the box also comes with a touch screen running a telehealth app that provides usage instructions.

5. Painless blood sugar test for diabetics

Diabetes is a disease that cannot be cured, and requires constant monitoring so that the condition does not become worse. Traditionally that has been done by measuring blood sugar levels at regular intervals, but that is invasive and can be expensive. Yosatria Juanka Sibarani and Anisha Nurul Hakim of the University of North Sumatra have developed a technique to measure sugar levels in a patient’s urine by passing an electric current through the sample.

6. Using mushrooms to break down old plastic

Plastic is one of the most common materials used in everyday life, but it can take centuries – even millennia – to decompose naturally. Randi Arita, Dhaifina Sabila, and Dita Isnaini Rambe from North Sumatra University have been working on a project to use fungi to speed up this process.

7. Bacteria-based fertilizer

Many plants form a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that live on their roots. Ashifa Cahyani, Tita Aulia, Muh Ichsan, Hasrullah and Muh Ersyan from Hasanuddin University have developed a product called Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), which takes these beneficial bacteria and turns them into a fertilizer.

8. Using waste as fuel

Farah Wirasenjaya, Nadhira and Najla Nadhia Rahmawati from Bandung Institute of Technology have come up with an innovative solution to the twin problems of waste and carbon emissions. Their project involves taking waste that previously would have been buried at the TPPAS Nambo landfill and using it as fuel for the nearby cement industry. That results in lower carbon emissions than the coal that would otherwise be burned, while reducing the amount of waste that has to be buried.

9. Turning manufacturing waste into concrete

Cirebon is a major stone processing centre in Indonesia, but the process produces large quantities of polluting waste. Alfin Mohammad Abdillah, Dhea Shofi Racmadita and Faldie Fathurohman from Bandung Institute of Technology have designed a process to recycle this waste into concrete blocks. Using their technique, 70% of the concrete can be made up of waste that would otherwise be discarded.

10. Making tree planting faster and safer

The machinery typically used to dig holes for tree planting is carried by hand, is time consuming to operate and can be dangerous for the user. It is also difficult to use on sloping ground. Bagas Adji, Syifa Paxia and Revelation Hartato from Bogor Agricultural Institute have designed the Silvator, which combines a drill with a wheeled frame to make it more mobile. Using the equipment, a person can dig 80 holes per hour instead of the 40-45 using traditional equipment, they say.