Free of Charge Tutoring Program

Banda Aceh, May 20, 2006: In order to maximize attendance, the Free Class Method was utilized in the free-of-charge national examination preparation tutoring program held by the Freeman Foundation and Sampoerna Foundation in cooperation with Nurul Fikri, which just completed the Tutoring Program Toward Success in the 2006 national Examinations (May 8).

This Program is the third of its kind implemented with a donation of US$ 1 million from the Freeman Foundation. The same Program was carried out twice in 2005.

The lack of motivation among students and the long distance between the students’ homes and the Program site were the main challenges. The level of attendance for 2005 averaged at only 30-40% for classroom discussion, while attendance improved to 50-60% this year. Another problem affecting attendance was the overlapping schedules for school tutoring sessions and the SF tutoring program sessions.

Because of that the Free Class method was introduced into the tutoring program this year. In the Free Class sessions held on May 7-8, the students were allowed to freely ask questions of the tutors about whatever subjects or problems they did not yet fully understand.

Data on the 2005 National Examination for Aceh province inidcate that the areas not covered by national examination preparation tutelage did not have good results on the annual examination. Aceh Utara Regency had 71% or 3000 high school students fail the exam.

In comparison,  Banda Aceh, which receieved assistance with free exam preparation tutleage, had 82% of its students pass the examination. On the basis of this data, this year the number of areas covered by the free tuleage program has been expanded from only 3 to 6 (Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Pidie, Bireun, Lhokseumawe, and Meulaboh).

Eddy F. Henry, Director of Program and Alumni Affairs for Sampoerna Foundation, noted that this program involves 102 teachers and 3100 students from 79 schools in 6 regencies. “The teachers involved in the program were screened and selected in Banda Aceh, Bireun and Meulaboh between March 1 and 10, 2006.

This selection was based on the results of academic and microteaching evaluations and interviews. When the selection was completed, 102 of 350 candidates had been approved to form the backbone of the tutelage program. The selected teachers were then provided with 3 days of intensive training by a team from Nurul Fikri Jakarta. This training process occurred in two places, Banda Aceh and Bireun,” Eddy explained at the closing ceremony for the Free Tutelage Program at the Aceh Provincial Education Agency offices (20/5).

The subjects covered in the tutelage program were widely varied. Besides the general subjects focused on in the National Examination, 3 other areas of study were also featured, which included the subjects of physics, chemistry, (for the exact sciences) and anthropology, sociology, and history (for the social sciences). This year’s National Examination Tutelage involved 8 tryouts within the period of March 18 through May 8, 2006.

For more information, please contact:
Hendri B. Satrio
Media Relations
Sampoerna Foundation
Sampoerna Strategic Square
Tower B, Lantai 3
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 45
Jakarta 12930, Indonesia
Tel. +62-21-577 2340 ext. 7055 Fax. +62-21-577 2341
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