The Growth of A Child-Friendly School in East Nusa Tenggara

One of the girls named Asni observed how her school is still not child-friendly. In fact, the main focus of the school is the children themselves. She is now 15 years old and is in grade 3 of junior high school in a village in Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Her school is located on a hill and she has to walk 45 minutes from home to school. 

"In our school there is no access to water, so the children have to bring water from home to ensure the water needs at school.  Bullying is also common in our school and most recently a child fainted due to bullying. I have also experienced bullying but not too much. In addition, teachers in our school also sometimes still smoke in front of us," said Asni, describing the condition of her school. 

The situation began to change when the school had a new principal. Mr Bofan, as he is familiarly called, is an educator who cares about children's rights. "He really likes to discuss with us during breaks and in the morning before class. The principal always urges us to take care of our health, be good to our friends, and help our parents at home. He always asks us to take a shower every day," said Asni. 

Mr. Bofan also pays attention to how teachers should behave at school. For Mr. Bofan, teachers should not be feared, but become friends with students. In addition to being educators, teachers are also protectors of children. 

“Our principal wants our school to be a Child Friendly School. So he had a discussion with WVI and the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Office (P3A Office) about Child Friendly Schools. He announced to us that our school will be prepared to become a Child Friendly School. At that time, the Headmaster also said that he had also quit smoking to be able to support the Child Friendly School. I also didn't really understand what a Child Friendly School was like at first but it sounded fun," said Asni, joyfully. 

On 29 October 2024, a new milestone took place at this school. All students, parents, teachers, village head gathered at the school to witness the School Declaration towards Child Friendly School. The event was also attended by the P3A Office, PPO (Education, Youth and Sports) Office, DispendukCapil (Population and Civil Registration Office) and school supervisors. From then on, the school is committed to conducting activities that support Child Friendly Schools. 

"Seeing the guests who came, we were very happy because it was the first time our school was visited by the local government officials. We are very proud because the children are actively involved. Some were in charge of welcoming guests, some performed welcoming dances, some were in charge of giving welcome necklaces, becoming the MCs, performing on stage poetry, anti-violence drama, singing and many more. The event was performed by all of us students at the school," said Asni, recalling the memorable moment. 

From the event, Asni and other students learnt several important messages related to the protection of children, such as: 

• Avoid violent incidents at school by often doing positive activities that can build character, such as praying and worshiping diligently and helping others in need. 

• The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the protection of children's rights. 

• Socialisation of child sexual abuse and child marriage, those should not occur. 

After the activities were well implemented, the school where Asni studied built four important commitments, namely, Free from Bullying, Free from Sexual Violence, Free from Cigarette Smoke, and Free from Drugs. With these commitments in place, every student and educator hopes that there will be changes in the school that will increasingly focus on child well-being. 

"In his speech, WVI manager Ignatius Anggoro said that WVI will work with the school committee and the government to ensure access to water in our school. Hearing this, my heart was very happy. They say that a child-friendly school must be healthy, so there must be water in the school. Hopefully this can be realised," Asni hoped. No need to wait long, Asni's hopes will soon be realised in 2025. 

WVI in collaboration with the school and village government is working on access to water at the school. One of the first steps is to conduct a survey of water sources that are feasible to meet the water needs at the school. After that, the construction planning process will be carried out. The construction of the clean water network is usually done in mutual cooperation. 

"Even though we have to walk a long way to school, if the school starts to get better, we will be more enthusiastic!" said Asni. In addition to working on water access at the school, Mr. Bofan also selected an Anti-Bullying Ambassador. This is done so that children understand the impact and how to prevent bullying. In the future, schools can be a place where children can learn to respect each other. 

“We hope that the Principal will continue to organise activities for children like this so that we can grow up to be good children. We heard from the Principal that there could be other collaborations in the future to improve literacy skills. Our Principal aspires to build a proper library for all of us. May God always be with our sponsors and always be healthy," Asni concluded. 

Author: Maria Asni Jelita (sponsored child from Manggarai Area Programme) 

Editor: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)