Supporting Childrens’ Education During Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all schools have shifted to online learning. Unfortunately, Many children in my neighborhood still have difficulty in learning at home because they have no mobile phones or computers to keep up with the online lessons. Despite the learning-at-home programs on the state-owned television network to make learning more fun and reach more students, most of those children lack access to television. Also, they don’t have many books at home, making it difficult for them to learn.

Another problem is the lack of motivation to learn. With the absence of teachers and regular learning hours, those children tend to spend their time playing with their friends. Even those who have mobile phones prefer playing games to learning. When their schools are closed, it is difficult for those children to learn independently.

For the abovementioned reasons, I started a community library called Rumah Kartini since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Located in Cirebon, Rumah Kartini aims at providing opportunities to read and learn for children, especially those with no online access for studying. The library does not only provide books but also English classes for children. On the first day I started teaching some children, they were so excited when they learned names of fruits and asked if they could go back to learn English the next day.

I hope that English can help those children access more information and thus improving the quality of education in my hometown. To begin with, support from educational institutions and people who care about the future generation is required to foster this community library. Until today, Rumah Kartini has only about 40 books for children and a few others for the junior high school level. Thus, any kind of support will surely contribute to the growth of Rumah Kartini as well as the children in its surroundings.