Launch of Sekolah Enuma Beta Testing in Indonesia
We cannot deny that information technology and all the knick-knacks of smart communication tools permeate our daily lives today. This rapidly developing technology often causes nervousness in us. Parents are often worried when they see their children playing and chatting with smartphones and other digital gadgets. Understandably worried. Fear that the child will get addicted or get involved in a relationship with a stranger. Again, such worry is normal. But on the other hand, children can no longer be separated from all these living devices of the virtual world.
Yes, they were born and grew up in a civilization that was dense with the sophistication of information technology. Our children are actually the original inhabitants of the virtual world. Unlike their parents who are migrants: immigrants in digital land. In fact, the native digital children’s brains work in harmony with the sophistication of information technology. They seem to have instincts that the generation before them do not have. Digital instincts, I call them.
As a community development organization that works a lot with children groups, Yayasam Fondasi Hidup (FH Indonesia) sees gaps in our world of education. Children born and raised in digital civilization are often required to learn with an analog approach that is foreign to them. On the other hand, in many places, we find that there are very few teachers available in schools — especially in remote areas. All of that sparked anxiety in us.
When we were introduced to Enuma, an innovative organization that brings information technology to children, we were excited. Last Monday, January 11, together with Enuma and the support of The HEAD Foundation, we laid a milestone by launching a beta test of an ambitious and innovative project Independent Learning while Playing. A set of interactive learning materials designed in a play application: from Mathematics, Indonesian to English. Sekolah Enuma all in one application.
We witnessed how, without much instruction, children aged 6 to 8 years old demonstrated their fluency using the application Sekolah Enuma which is held in their little hands. Their fingers danced across the virtual keyboards while their sparkling eyes reflected from the screen of their smartphones.
We witnessed the emergence of hope because actually, these native digital children need a Digital Learning Room. These children think they are playing games, knowing not that they are actually studying. And every time children play, their potential and learning capacity will immediately boost up. Is there anything more fun than watching children studying with joy?
The beta testing of Enuma School for Indonesia is currently taking place in two locations in Sumatra: nine community centers near Medan and four plantation schools near Lampung. A total of about 600 children will be helping us to test and refine our learning application over the next three to four months. Continue to follow our adventures to learn more about Enuma School.
Effendy Aritonang is the Country Director of Indonesia at Food for the Hungry (FH) and serves out of FH’s office in Medan, Indonesia.
Food for the Hungry seeks to end ALL forms of human poverty by going to the hard places and walking with the world’s most vulnerable people. For fifty years, FH has been serving through purposeful relief and development. FH believes in the fight against poverty, which is why we serve the vulnerable in over 20 countries globally.
