KOMPAS.com – Inspirasi Foundation launched the “Educational Leadership Initiative to Accomplish Achievement (INSPIRASI)” program for school principals in Karawang Regency, West Java, on Thursday (7/18/2019) in Karawang, West Java. This pilot program aims to improve the quality of school leadership practices which is expected to result in improving the quality of student learning outcomes. The implementation starts in the 2019/2020 school year and will be carried out for 1.5 years and attended by 20 public elementary school principals and 5 Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic elementary school) in Karawang, West Java. “The important message today is that we believe that schools can be successful if the leadership of its school principal is effective. This is a small step contributed by INSPIRASI Foundation in order to make that happen,” said INSPIRASI Executive Director, PatryaPratama, in the launch of the INSPIRASI program. 

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Kotak-1-1024x684.jpg

He said that being a school principal is similar to be a chief executive officer (CEO) or president director of a company. The principal is expected to become the CEO and inspire everyone involved in the school, starting from the teacher, students, parents, and other parties. Also read: Tanoto Foundation: Becoming a Philanthropic Educational Catalyst in Indonesia “They (school principals) who lead their fellow teachers every day and ensure that their schools can run smoothly and help their students achieve their desired future,” added Patrya. Meanwhile, CEO of Global Tanoto Foundation, Satrijo Tanudjojo, said that one way to improve the leadership of the school principal is through INSPIRASI program. This program also improves the education quality supported by philanthropic activists so that its impact is widely felt by the community. “We believe that a qualified education accelerates equality of opportunity. All children have equal opportunities to go to school. Our task is to help them achieve that potential,” said Satrijo. 

He also believes that government support will greatly influence the success of this program, both the central government and the Karawang Regency Government in particular. On the same occasion, the Regent of Karawang, Cellica Nurrachadiana, said the development of Karawang will continue to accelerate and recruit reliable human resources, especially in the field of education. In regards to that, it has become an obligation of many parties to develop human resources together. “It won’t be done within only one or two years, three or four years; but maybe five to 10 years. Because it is a process that takes a long time and needs consistency from all parties,” said Cellica. She considered that the cooperation carried out in this program was good enough so that regional potential could be developed. Principals, teachers and students must be guided so that they are able to compete in the current era of globalization. Development of principals’ function “Most importantly, I want the children of Karawang to be able and willing to compete. Hopefully by having intention and effort, aligning our vision and mission, education will be the priority issue in the development of this nation, especially in Karawang Regency,” she concluded. 

INSPIRASI Program will implement a forum & field approach to 20 principals of public primary schools and 5 madrasah ibtidaiyah in the form of workshops and on the job learning with facilitators. The developed material focuses on improving  the  quality of school principal’s practices, for instance mindset, management, collaboration and communication with the team, and decision-making based on the available evidence and data. This is an adaptation of a similar program that has been implemented in several countries, namely India, Malaysia and Kenya, addressed to affiliated school principals in the Global School Leaders network. INSPIRASI as an  initiative was a result of the collaboration of a number of donor agencies, namely the Tanoto Foundation, Global School Leaders, Resinda Hotel Karawang, PT Bukit Muria Jaya, Triputra Agro Persada, and the Asia Philanthropy Circle.

This article has been published on Kompas.com with the title “Inspirasi Program”: Developing Quality of School Principals”, https://edukasi.kompas.com/read/2019/07/18/21102821/program-inspirasi-mengembangkan-kualitas-kepala-sekolah?page=all.

Author: Erwin Hutapea.

Editor: Yohanes Enggar Harususilo

Date: 18 July 2019/21:10 WIB