At a primary school in Pesisir Barat, Lampung, that did not have a library, there was a small room in the corner of the school that was rarely used. Sri and her fellow teachers saw the room from a different perspective: “Why not turn it into a mini library full of books that children can read?” they thought.
The idea came when Sri’s school became a partner of the KREASI. Since joining, Sri and other teachers have received training to strengthen their capacity in children’s literacy, numeracy, and character development.
In addition, Sri’s school also received a distribution of children’s storybooks from KREASI, and Sri was selected as one of the teachers who benefited from capacity building through the activation of Teacher Working Groups (KKG) facilitated by KREASI’s Master Teachers.
According to Sri, a simple reading corner in the classroom was no longer enough. A dedicated space was needed so that children could find books, read comfortably, and understand the content. There was a strong interest from the children to have a special reading room. Of course, it was not easy. However, the enthusiasm and support from the school community strengthened this effort.
“There was a religious room that was rarely used. It wasn’t very big, but together we worked hand in hand to transform it into a mini library,” said Sri.
Sri felt that having a dedicated library space would be an important facility, not only for children to read in their spare time, but also to help them learn to understand the content of books. These small steps could then help children become more accustomed to connecting what they read with logical thinking and numeracy.
“What’s important is that the children have a dedicated space at school for reading,” Sri said firmly.
Rewards for Children
Not stopping there, Sri felt that simply providing a room was not enough. Together with other teachers, she thought of ways to further motivate children to go to the library. Thus, every time a child finished reading a book and could answer simple questions about the story, they would receive a star. The stars collected by the children could then be exchanged for small rewards from the school.
“There’s a star system to encourage the children to come to the library, so that their reading frequency becomes even higher,” she added.
It was indeed a simple approach, but for Sri it strengthened the children’s enthusiasm to come to the library.
The small, rarely used room began to fill with new activities: children came in turns to open the available books. Occasionally, they asked and answered questions from teachers about what they had read.
For Sri, the simple scenes she experienced and witnessed were enough. They showed that strategies could be devised even amid limited infrastructure so children could continue learning. The library designed by the school was indeed not yet complete or as neat as those in big cities, but Sri saw that children’s reading habits were growing stronger. From that, she believed that children’s learning processes could flourish even when starting from a modest room.
“Our school’s facilities and infrastructure are still inadequate, so what we can do is adapt with strategies — so that children’s reading needs are better accommodated,” Sri emphasized.
Text: Putri Lalitaningtyas (Writer), Andika Ramadhan (Editor)
Foto: Putri Lalitaningtyas/KREASI/Yayasan Guru Belajar/Save the Children