The Aceh Polytechnic Program brings world-class education for Aceh’s youths

One hundred and twenty celebrities were joining the grand opening of The Aceh Polytechnic on Friday August 29, 2008. Two hundred and forty students started their first academic year of the college by September 8. The building, which occupies a site of 8,350 square meters, has been made possible by a combined partnership involving Chevron, USAID, and the Indonesian government (Government of NAD Province, Banda Aceh Municipal Government, Aceh/Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) and the Ministry of National Education), with the project costing a total of US$16 million. The Mayor of Banda Aceh Mayor Mawardy Nurdin repeatedly praised the partnership model between Chevron, USAID, and the Indonesian government. “This model of partnership between the private sector, non-profit organizations, and the government is worthy of replication and development in the case of other projects,” he stressed.

The USAID financed and Swisscontact implemented Project TAPP (The Aceh Polytechnic Program) is responsible for the soft part of the Polytechnic, starting from developing curricula over recruitment and training of staff through procurement of equipment and all other necessities to the assurance of the economical feasibility of the institution being established as a foundation.

’’The college has three stories and two wings, with each being glass-walled so as to allow the sun to enter, thereby saving energy,’’ said Syaifuddin Abdullah, Project Manager of the Chevron sponsored part of Polytechnic Aceh. The building consists of 65 rooms, 33 lecture theaters, 22 laboratories, lecturers’ rooms, a cafeteria, an amphitheater, an auditorium and a library. Moreover, the entire building is wheelchair accessible. It is also earthquake-resistant, supported by foundations of some 30 meters in depth.

Rhonda Zygocki, the Vice President Public and Government Affair from Chevron headquarters underlined the role of Aceh youths in helping rebuild Aceh beyond doing tasks given by their teachers.

Martin Stottele, the Chief of Party of the technical assistance project implemented by Swisscontact stresses that with the inauguration of the building a first major milestone could be established in a very convincing manner. Further on there will be some more milestones to be achieved like the start of the teaching and learning process with the first 240 students until the graduation party of that essential first batch. “It will still be a long way to go to be acknowledged as an institution providing world-class education, but with the joint efforts of all partners the odds are good to achieve the ambitious aim” added Martin.

The Polytechnic is expected to provide vocational training in applied technology fields such as information technology, electronics, mechatronic and business accountancy. These skills are critical to the continued reconstruction and development of the province.  “We lost many talented teachers and students when the tsunami hit Aceh in 2004. The construction of the Politeknik Aceh is in line with the government’s priority in Aceh at the present time, namely education, so that we can quickly recover and become even better than before,” said Muhammad Nazar, NAD Deputy Governor, in his address.

Swisscontact was assigned to implement a similar educational project back in 1974 - 1993. Polytechnic Mechanic Swiss, PMS with today’s name Politeknik Manufaktur, POLMAN – Bandung, West Java, is a training institution for higher technicians with 3-year diploma programs for tool makers and maintenance mechanics. The new institution had a spearhead function under the roof of ITB to develop the concept of Polytechnics.


(Parts of the article is taken from IndoAsianews and various sources, photo by Chevron)
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A wave of solidarity: Rebuilding education in Aceh (Part 2)

Australia Helps Restore Education in Aceh

Aceh Map

 JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Australian government has launched a program of building school buildings and their facilities in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province at a total cost of  7 million Australian dollars.
   
The program, the Australian embassy in Jakarta said on Wednesday, will be applied for three years, during which the  Australian government will help the Aceh administration provide access to elementary education for Acehnese children, and raise the quality of education in Aceh province.
     
Under an Australia-Indonesia partnership scheme,  development assistance for Aceh will be further increased under a number of plans for the  Local Governance Innovations for Communities in Aceh (LOGICA) for a period of five years at a total cost of 30 million Australian dollars.
   
The program is a continuation of the initial stage of the  LOGICA program which had helped hundreds of villages and scores of local administrations rebuild the areas devastated by the December 26, 2004 tsunami.
   
And in the five years that follow, hundreds of community members will be trained in skills for cooperation with the government in the improvement of health, education and infrastructure.
   
"Education, training and good government management are key factors in restorations and long-term construction in Aceh. Under a partnership between the government and Aceh residents, the Australian assistance under this program will contribute to the attainment  of a better future," Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said.
   
In the meantime, Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf hailed the planned cooperation in the prioritized development of his administration with a view to increasing skills in education, financial management, and human resources.
   
He said that assistance was still needed in the post 2004 tsunami period and following years of conflicts in the province.
   
The Australian government has been working together with the Acehnese people since 2004.  The new program helped Australia realize a statement made by the Australian prime minister last year on a 50 million Australian dollar (Rp 450 billion) commitment to continue the restoration of Aceh until 2013.

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IDB supports education in Aceh Warta

BANDA ACEH, ACEH – Islamic Development Bank (IDB) stated the commitment for helping the education aid over orphans in the Aceh province till 2015 through fund donation about Rp18 billion.

Muamalat Indonesia Bank (BMI) general manager Iwan Agustiawan Fuad said Tuesday (Jun.29) that IDB establihs agreement between Islamic banks and foundations, IDB and Islamic Organization Conference (IOC) for realizing the humanitarian aid project in the far western province of Indonesia.

The Rp18 billion aid is planned to cover 3,205 children. The orphans, mostly, are the victims of tsunami disaster in Aceh

“The number of children we help, is greater than according to national scale,” he explained.

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Islamic Peace Education in Aceh

by Leah Wells


In response to more than 25 years of violence and armed struggle in the province of Aceh, Indonesia, a group of academics and activists have undertaken the task of creating a peace education curriculum grounded in the core Islamic peace beliefs and rooted in the Acehnese social and cultural values.

Islam, derived from the word salam, peace, is at the core of its very name, a religion of peace.

Many times miscalculated as a religion of vengeance and retribution, Islam on a global scale has received defamatory attention in recent times. Yet its truest practitioners continue to quote the Qu'ran as a book of peacemaking directives.

Inequity, violence and a highly traumatized population serve as the backdrop for this curriculum and the accompanying teacher and student trainings. Many rural Acehnese are under-educated, while the city of Banda Aceh is experiencing a rapid rate of urbanization. These factors contribute to a level of dissatisfaction with the centralized Indonesian government, and cause the Acehnese to become further entrenched in the separatist movement.

In the past year alone more than 600 people have been killed in Aceh. Nearly every Acehnese has a story of witness to violence. Few are untouched by the bloody struggle.

For the past three decades, violence has been the modus operandi for resolving conflicts in Aceh. The GAM (Free Aceh Movement) and Indonesian military routinely and aggressively perpetrate acts of violence which often catch civilians in the crossfire. Like many international conflicts, the blame and frustration is so deep and the feelings so hot that this power struggle has assumed a life of its own.

Young people angry at the disparity of wealth and inaccess to better education and thus a better life have taken up arms to ameliorate their situation. Admittedly they recognize that weapons are a quick fix and permit no long-term solution, but are good tools for getting revenge and perpetuating the conflict.

Recognizing that violence only perpetuates more violence, the curriculum team began developing a peace education program for high school-aged students as well as teachers, and over the past year has conducted trainings and workshops which have reached both private and public schools throughout Aceh.

Thus far, the Acehnese academic community, including students, teachers, administrators and government officials, have embraced this peace initiative with open arms. Led by Director, Dr. Asna Husin, supported by UNICEF, AusAID, and the Washington, DC-based non-profit Nonviolence International, this curriculum seeks to bring an active, dynamic peace perspective to Aceh so that future generations of Acehnese need not live under the same threatening conditions that currently exist.

Six basic principles form the foundation for the curriculum: Introspection and Sincerity, Rights and Responsibilities, Conflict and Violence, Democracy and Justice, Plurality of Creation, and Paths to Peace. Embedded in the lessons in these chapters are crucial Acehnese proverbs that have superficial as well as deeper meanings for bringing about peace and justice.

Central to the curriculum is the teaching that Allah desires peace. It is not enough to have peace just between the individual and Allah, however. If there is injustice or inequality among humans, then Allah is not satisfied. Moreover, Islam teaches that peace is not a receptive, passive condition where only self-interests are served. Rather peace is a dynamic which must be continually refined, redefined and struggled to achieve.

In achieving peace, humans must examine our wants and needs. We all experience social, spiritual, physical and psychological needs, all of which must be kept in a rough balance to maintain peace. Our excessive wants, however, are often the cause of conflict and violence because this means that others needs are not being met.

The peace paradigm this curriculum espouses is one where Allah encompasses the realms of peace within, peace in the community, and peace with nature. The Aceh peace education curriculum teaches that in Islam, nature is meant to serve our needs not our wants.

Therefore, to have peace with Allah and peace between human beings, we must also respect the peace that exists in nature and not take advantage of natural resources which bring great wealth to a few and great poverty to many. It is the economic injustices that are perpetrated at a structural level which cause tremendous personal violence on an individual level.

In Aceh, peacemaking is not a theory or hypothetical question to be answered with leisure. It is an inventive means for proactively addressing the systemic, militaristic and interpersonal violence which disrupt every corner of society.

Leah C. Wells serves as Peace Education Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. She is currently in Aceh contributing to the student nonviolence trainings. She may be reached at education@napf.org.

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