Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro Building an Affordable School for the Disadvantaged
Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro, 39, will not let children be deprived of schooling. She allowed the use of part of her house for neighborhood children to learn before finally building a new classroom next to her house.
By
MOHAMMAD HILMI FAIQ
·6 minutes read
ARSIP PRIBADI
Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro
Over a dozen children of primary school age are sitting with full concentration, while Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro reads the Arabic script transliterated into Latin letters. One by one, the children imitate the way the letters are pronounced by Iin, as Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro is commonly called. The learning activity in the yellow classroom lined with a carpet is followed by a drawing lesson.
So is the scene of a learning and teaching activity at Yayasan Anak Indonesia Belajar foundation in Bojong, Meruyung subdistrict, Limo district, Depok, West Java. In this school, Iin dedicates her knowledge and life to the intellectual enhancement of the neighborhood children. She has no less than 45 students, some of whom have graduated and pursued junior high school study.
The story began at the end of 2014 when Iin moved from Jakarta to a settlement in Depok. She frequently noticed children playing while others of their age went to school. They turned out to be children in Iin’s neighborhood who had no schooling due to financial limitations. Their fathers mostly were construction workers while their mothers worked as domestic servants. Iin, brought up in educational circles, was prompted to help them receive proper education.
It was the determination that encouraged Iin to set up the school and foundation. She utilized the terrace of her house as a room for free learning. She even gave her students pocket money as a stimulus to make them more diligent.
“In the very beginning there were five children. They were three to six years old,” revealed Iin on Monday (13/3/2023).
The number of her students increased to more than a dozen. For one to two months everything indeed ran smooth, but in the third month it was just the reverse. Those coming to learn were not clearly identifiable. While one day student A was present, the next day a certain student B joined instead, and so forth.
“Learning for free turned out to make them attend class at will, their commitment to learn was also low,” said the woman, who often teaches while carrying a child.
Learning for free turned out to make them attend class at will, their commitment to learn was also low.
This condition made it difficult for Iin to give lessons in a continuous way. However, Iin remained in high spirits to enhance her neighbors’ intellectual level. Therefore, she gathered her students’ parents to seek their assistance and commitment to the children’s education. After the consultation, they agreed to contribute Rp 25,000 per month as a bond of commitment. The amount was far smaller than the cost of a school operation, because it was not meant to solve the problem of cost but rather for the continuity of study. It proved to be effective. The number of students became more definite, even increasing.
Iin was even more convinced of her determination. At the end of 2015, she emboldened herself to start the construction of a building beside her house as a new classroom. Overwhelming enthusiasm often is not directly proportional to the financial condition. The same was true of Iin, who at the time only possessed Rp 3 million in savings. Yet, she dared to invite construction workers to build a classroom.
Iin’s parents living in Sedayu, Brondong, Lamongan, East Java, happened to visit Depok. “So, I asked my father to oversee the workers while my mother prepared food for them,” said Iin.
ARSIP PRIBADI
Nashihatud Diniyah Jahro
Tough path
The opening of Iin’s class and teaching activities was once challenged by her husband. He was worried lest Iin might neglect their own children. Iin was then a mother of two. The eldest child was three years old and the younger sibling was one year old. Now she has four children.
But owing to her very strong desire and pressing the need for actualization, at the end of 2015, while her husband was out of town, Iin had the classroom built. In 2018, Iin had a tough discussion with her spouse when she planned to add another classroom by renovating the house in order to have two rooms.
For her, everything she is engaged in serves a noble aim: eradicating ignorance by preparing a literate generation.
For Iin, the school was not complete without an office. A new plan would always trigger a debate with her husband. They got into small arguments as well as tearful ones. Some people even considered Iin disloyal to her spouse. “But my principle is that as long as what I’m doing is not an immoral act, God willing, I don’t belong to the category of disloyalty,” said Iin of the guidance of her action, which was later supported by her husband.
For her, everything she is engaged in serves a noble aim: eradicating ignorance by preparing a literate generation.
Gradually, the negative view turned into acclaim after her hard work came to fruition. A number of her students have graduated from elementary school (SD) and are now junior high school students. Those who are in SD can read and write fluently, assisted by Iin’s effort to devise a suitable way of teaching that has led to the invention of the Happy Easy method in 2017.
Reading method
The method emerged after Iin racked her brain to respond to the demand of parents wishing to see their children capable of reading promptly. Iin identified her students as tending to be hyperactive and less able to focus on lessons for being accustomed to being outdoors. Happy Easy was the answer.
“Happy Easy is a breakthrough designed as a simple and pleasing reading method,” said the holder of a master’s degree in education and psychology from Muhammadiyah University, Malang, East Java.
This method invites children to learn to read through illustrated stories (visual), singing (audio) and playing (kinesthetic). Happy Easy teaches children to recognize the alphabet by associating it with an object whose shape resembles the letter to be memorized.
To popularize the Happy Easy reading method with the public, Iin frequently arranged free training sessions, usually during school holidays. In one year, Iin and her team offer at least three free training courses. As a result, a lot of children have been assisted in their reading capability.
In 2020, this method earned a certificate of intellectual property rights from the Law and Human Rights Ministry. Sadly, certain unscrupulous parties have used the method without permission. Iin feels the lack of appreciation.
The other constraint is that about 90 percent of the operational funds come from Iin’s own pocket, which is sourced among others from her salary as a permanent lecturer at Muhammadiyah University, Palangkaraya. The fund is far from sufficient. So far, she is around Rp 300 million in debt, particularly for the installments of the land on which the classroom was built. Nevertheless, Iin feels sure there will be a way out. The primary concern is that no neighborhood children should be deprived of schooling. It is her determination to build an affordable school for the disadvantaged.
