In the Spirit of Charity

Once again, Springfield’s Lecture Theater was filled with harmonious melodies and powerful choreographies as the annual Charity Concert returned in 2024. Held on the 2nd of February, 2024, this Charity Concert featured an array of singing performances, instrumentals, dances, and bands, exhibiting the talent of Springfield PB3’s students and teachers. Parents, teachers, and students - from Springfield as well as other schools - filled the Lecture Theater with cheers and applause. As the name suggests, this highly anticipated event does not only provide the entertainment and excitement of a “concert”, but also gives to the less fortunate through “charity”. For this Charity Concert, STUCO will donate all proceeds earned from ticket sales and fundraising to Rumah Singgah Lions, an organisation which provides shelter free of charge to children with cancer.

Among the performances, Andreas, Nixon, and Jayden left an incredibly strong impression on the audience with their rendition of ‘Uptown Girl’. Springfield’s leading singers, Joice and Chloe, presented their vocal prowess once again. The grade 12 dancers consisting of Angeline, Kristie, Kayla, Pamela, Sonia, Leticia and Renata took their opportunity and killed the stage with the songs ‘Tomboy’ and ‘Instruction’. To fit the Valentine season, Clarissa and Fiona sang a duet of Laufey’s ‘Valentine’. Mr Jimmy, Mr Djoharli, and Ms Pamela did not want to miss out, showing their vocal talents through their singing performances. And Springfield’s band Hexabeat truly created a core memory for the Swifties in the audience, jamming out to ‘You Belong With Me’ to wrap up the Charity Concert.

Performances aside, Among and Around also set up a booth to sell stickers. Book donations were also open prior to the Charity Concert, from Tuesday, 30 January to Thursday, 1 February. But where do the money and books go?

I love reading!

In the spirit of giving, Among and Around collaborated with Saya Suka Membaca in hopes to improve the literacy rate of children in Indonesia. You may be asking, why does the Journalism Club, which focuses on writing and designing articles, want to help children to read?

Reading is the basis of all knowledge. Mathematics, science, business, economics, literature, history – virtually any modern field of work requires the fundamental knowledge of reading. This is what Jean Oberlin, the leader of Saya Suka Membaca, told us in our Journalism Club meeting on 19 January 2024 in his visit to Springfield. Unfortunately, many children in Indonesia cannot even recognize letters of the alphabet. Saya Suka Membaca reaches out to these children in slums or rural areas. They teach the individual letters of the alphabet using posters and story books designed by student volunteers from universities which specifically highlight a single letter. For example, to learn the letter ‘b’ they use a story book titled ‘Burung Biru’. Educating teachers is also one of their priorities, as these teachers are the ones continuing the work of Saya Suka Membaca in their schools.

Their current project aims to educate children and give training to teachers in Sabu Island. The books we received – 53 in total – will either help children in their reading development or be donated to the public library. The funds we earned will be used to produce story books for children and training books for teachers.

But many kids can’t.

Our trip to Saya Suka Membaca’s office in Kelapa Gading on 7 February 2024 was an eye-opener. Meeting once again with Jean Oberlin and this time some of his crew members, we handed over the books and discussed more about the sources of Saya Suka Membaca’s funds. They collaborate with various local and international companies by sending out proposals for their programs, and they receive funding in exchange for company social responsibility. They also work together with regency governments all around Indonesia. Schools could also pay them and they would provide the schools with the curriculum and books. Lastly, fundraising programs like what the Journalism Club conducted and flat donations add to the operational finances.

We were also shown videos of Papuan 5th and 6th grade students still learning about letters – yes, letters. In stark contrast, Springfield students in 5th and 6th grade would be learning reading comprehension, writing, and grammar. As absurd as it sounds, they are somehow in 5th and 6th grade without the basic ability of reading. How did they even pass those classes?

Since final examinations are multiple choice, teachers would mark the final answers with dots on the answer sheet. Students would simply cross the marked answer, then these answer sheets would then be submitted to the examiners of the regency, and they would pass with flying colors, without actually understanding anything! This explains the discrepancy between the data released by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud). PISA claimed that only 15% of 15-year-olds in Indonesia can read, while Kemendikbud claims that 96% of 15-year-olds in Indonesia can read. I wonder why.

It may sound like a fever dream for your teacher to give all the answers to your exams, but this is done in order to clear the schools’ and teachers’ names. Let’s face it: if all those students conducted the examination without their teacher’s assistance, everyone’s papers would be marked 0, and the school and teacher would be known as the problem. This might result in the decrease of wages for the teacher or even dismissal. But is it really the teacher’s fault? These teachers only receive Rp. 300,000 to Rp. 1,000,000 a month, which is clearly not suitable. Moreover, underdeveloped areas could be difficult to access. For example, teachers would need to travel hours on a boat to arrive on a small island.

As Springfield students perform in the Charity Concert for the improved lives of children with cancer, we also decided to share with the underprivileged community by donating books and raising funds. The reality is much clearer now: literacy is one of the most fundamental skills a modern human could have, but is unfortunately absent in many Indonesian children. Our collaboration with Saya Suka Membaca represents the step we take to improve the lives of fellow Indonesian children.