This blog post focuses on the school general information and academic administration.
SCHOOL PROFILE
Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
— Albert Einstein
The Athirah Islamic School or Sekolah Islam Athirah is a privately-owned, science-oriented school which anchors on Islam in their pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment. Founded by Athirah, he patterned the school after his mother's dedication for education and Islam. With his name in Arabic meaning fragrant, Athirah has become a metaphor for a garden that allows the way toward heaven, which is made possible by incorporating the reciting and studying of the Qur'an in between academic periods. Athirah believes that intellectual excellence must be closely tied with Islam values and spiritual intelligence.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT SYSTEM
School Campuses
The school has three campuses in Indonesia. Campus I and II are located in Makassar, specifically at Kajaolalido and Bukit Baruga, respectively, while Campus III is in Bone Regency, which is northeast of Makassar and three hours away.
I was assigned in Campus I Kajaolalido under the junior high school department. The school is a large complex with a main building of eight floors, complete with basketball courts, cafeterias, auditoriums, parking spaces, and even a bank. It houses all grade levels from kindergarten to senior high school and faculty and administrative offices.
Mission and Vision
All the campuses reflect the same vision and mission, which is articulated as follows:
Being a prominent school that is characterized by Islam, national spirit and global perspective.
Developing a learning system that is able to equip learners with spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, and intellectual acumen.
School Motto
Anggun. Unggul. Cerdas.
Athirah lives by three important principles in pursuing academics and religion. They proudly utter these words as the Athirah community characterizes themselves as:
Anggun, elegant in attitude and behavior that is Islamic;
Unggul, excellent in quality and achievement; and
Cerdas, intelligent in science and technology.
TEACHING SYSTEM
The junior high school department or Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) alone in Campus I Kajaolalido has more or less 50 teachers catering to approximately 480 students. Athirah students are taught languages (Bahasa and English), arts and sciences (Mathematics, Science, Arts and Culture), religion (Qur'an study), social studies (Civics and Social), physical education (Sports). Vocational courses are also being offered, where students get to learn how to cook, sew, etc. Each subject has to be studied for 45 minutes per day, which should lead to a total of four hours per week. Subject teachers are aided by assistants who are also proficient in their respective fields to better monitor students' learning and progress.
MATERIALS AND OTHER LEARNING SYSTEMS
The main resource for learning in Athirah are the subject textbooks. Aside from this, the school is complete with facilities and amenities like science laboratories (biology, chemistry, and physics), computer laboratories, Bahasa laboratories, a library, a campus-wide Wi-fi connection, a cafe and resto, shuttle cars for official business and student transportation, and even a banking center, as mentioned earlier. Athirah also houses a masjid or prayer room for the teachers' and students' place of worship.
MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION SYSTEM
Student mastery is measured through written and produced outputs. Activities may range from project-making (slogan making), oral performances (dialogues), and group dynamics (quiz bees), but Athirah gives more importance to written tasks which help ensures mastery and competency. Evaluation is usually given after a unit has been discussed and finished.
The SMP has four major examinations annually: the first mid-semester, first semester, second mid-semester, and second semester examinations. Students are expected to have a passing rate of at least 78% in all their subjects.
CURRICULUM
The Ministry of National Education Indonesia (MoNE) mandated the implementation of the school-based curriculum, where national education is oriented towards the learning process and is dependent on individual school policy and goals. This means that based on the central curriculum provided by the MoNE, teachers and administrators in Athirah are responsible for designing their learning programs and determining the appropriate instructional, learning, and evaluation materials which can help their students achieve learning goals. These learning goals must focus on enriching the knowledge (cognitive), attitude (affective), and behavior (psychomotor) of the learner.
TEACHING PLAN
Lesson plans are designed depending on the complexity of the topic or lesson, the background of learners, the instructional medias and materials to be used, and the activities to be implemented in the class. For the Indonesian format, the lesson plan is divided into three major parts: pre-activity, main activity, and post-activity. Pre-activities are usually motivational setups to help learners become engaged for the day's lesson. Main activities are usually the lesson proper, discussions and interactions, debates, or anything that entail the exchange of thoughts and ideas. Post-activities are usually in the form of evaluative tasks like quizzes, tests, essays, or anything that pushes the students to show evidence of mastery of the lesson.
Want to know more about Sekolah Islam Athirah? You can visit their website at http://www.sekolahathirah.sch.id/ or watch their profile video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4OOfTApF3w.
Still want to read more about Indonesian Education? Visit https://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/the-national-curriculum-of-indonesia-education-essay.php and https://www.nuffic.nl/en/publications/find-a-publication/education-system-indonesia.pdf to learn more.
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