Extraordinary School Principal

Name: Extraordinary School Principal
Uploaded: 2021-02-04T03:29:51Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: For around 22 years, Wawan (46) has devoted himself to the education of children with special needs. Starting as a therapy facilitator, he became a teacher and then a school principal.

For around 22 years, Wawan (46) has devoted himself to the education of children with special needs. Starting as a therapy facilitator, he became a teacher and then a school principal.

Tatang Mulyana Sinaga

· 6 minutes read

For around 22 years, Wawan (46) has devoted himself to the education of children with special needs. Starting as a therapy facilitator, he became a teacher and then a school principal. Faithful to his work, he never tires of looking for new ways to educate children and free them from stigma.

State school for the disabled (SLB) A Pajajaran in the West Java city of Bandung was quiet on Wednesday afternoon (27/1/2021). However, that did not mean there were no teaching and learning activities. Students with disabilities were studying virtually through a conference application TeamTalk.

At the school principal\'s office, Wawan monitored the student learning activities through his smart device. "This application has become a virtual classroom of sorts for teaching and learning activities during the Covid-19 pandemic," he said.

Also read: Education Roadmap Becomes State Vision

That day was the last day he served as acting school principal there. He had held the position since July 2020, a few days after being transferred as head of SLB Cicendo, also in Bandung, thus making him handle two positions.

Online learning in the midst of a pandemic has become one of Wawan\'s toughest challenges during his work dealing with the world of disability education. He must rack his brains to find adaptive learning methods for his students.

He has tried various applications. However, the results were less than optimal for students with disabilities. Around April 2020, the school finally got an application that was suitable for the needs of students with visual disabilities, namely TeamTalk. "The audio on TeamTalk is clear. This is suitable for students with visual impairments who rely more on hearing," said Wawan.

In addition, a number of folders were created that were named according to the buildings and rooms in the school.

To cut a long story short, that is the application they now use. The school, continued Wawan, used a special server in the application so as not to mix with users from other countries. In addition, a number of folders were created that were named according to the buildings and rooms in the school.

"Students just need to follow the class schedule as usual. So, you don\'t need to worry about going to the wrong class when attending learning activities using a smartphone,” he said.

Also read: Enhancing Dignity of Street Children

Nine months on, the distance-learning using TeamTalk has been going well. For Wawan, this proves that students with disabilities can adapt like students in public schools. About 70 percent of the 78 students at the school have used the TeamTalk application. The rest, especially students with multiple disabilities or multidisability visual impairment (MDVI), continue learning with the help of teachers visiting their homes or using the WhatsApp application with the help of their parents.

Various roles

Wawan\'s interest in special-needs education began in high school. At that time, he was amazed to see a deaf woman who worked as a chef at a fast-food company. This made him curious. He pursued studies at the Department of Special Education at the Bandung Institute of Teacher Training and Education (now the Indonesian Education University, UPI) in 1993.

While doing an assignment for a course on remedial education, he visited a number of schools for the disabled. There he met students with various physical limitations, such as people with disabilities who are deaf, blind, with physical impairment and mental disorder. Because of their physical limitations, they are often stigmatized, with their abilities

considered inferior to those of other children. Wawan was moved to prove that such stigma was wrong. "Every child has their own talents, including children with special needs. Only the way to explore talent may not always be the same," he said.

After graduating from university in 1999, he served various roles in educating children with special needs. His work began as a facilitator of motor sensory stimulation for children, applying various methods of sensory therapy. Children with disabilities were invited to play first to make them comfortable.

Also read: Blood Sharing, a Noble Mission

In 2003, he and some of his friends started the Pelita Hafizh special school in Bandung. This school was established thanks to the support of the parents of children with disabilities whom he had previously treated. He was still assigned as a teacher at SLB Pelita Hafizh, even though five years later he had been accepted as a civil servant at the West Java Education Office.

"His job is to carry out inclusive education and to advocate for integrating children with special needs in public schools. We share learning methods with teachers to teach students with physical disabilities."

Students with multiple disabilities, for example, need a different educational approach.

In 2013, he was assigned as a teacher at SLB A Pajajaran and was appointed as the definitive principal of the school from 2018 to 2020. His long teaching journeys left him with great anxiety. This is because the educational and training needs of children with disabilities are increasingly complex. Students with multiple disabilities, for example, need a different educational approach.

"At that time, there was a student with visual disability as well as mental retardation. To walk about 300 meters from the dormitory to the classroom, he must be accompanied by other students. In the classroom, he didn\'t move much," he said.

Wawan prepared a special training program for this student. The method was by walking while recognizing permanent signs [along the way] from the dormitory to the classroom, teacher room, music room and place of worship. "Go along the walls or rely on the handrail. After two years of intense training, this student can move around independently,” he said.