ARE ORANGUTANS EMPATHETIC?
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below.
Following the success of the ‘Lintas Alam’ 2022 at Samboja Lestari event for local school students, the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), in collaboration with Save The Orangutan (STO) and the Civil Society in Development (CISU), followed up with an activity for elementary school (SD) teachers. A ‘Merdeka’ curriculum training session was held on 17-18 February at the Margomulyo village general meeting hall and was attended by 31 elementary school teachers from various schools within Samboja District.
The Merdeka curriculum is an intracurricular syllabus with specialised, contextual topics. The learning content of Merdeka is optimised to allow students enough time to explore certain concepts and strengthen their competencies. In seeking more schools and faculties to adopt the Merdeka curriculum, the BOS Foundation is currently promoting the program through its Community Empowerment Division, by providing curriculum training.
Dr. Aldrianto Priadjati, the BOS Foundation’s East Kalimantan Regional Manager, kicked off the first day of training: "The Merdeka curriculum is relatively new and may present additional challenges for teacher councils. The speaker from Balai Guru Penggerak (BGP) is highly qualified and will present the material over the next two days so that it can be applied in schools and become a way for all of us to advance Samboja District. Furthermore, we hope that the work of the BOS Foundation, with the assistance of STO and CISU, will be beneficial and well received by the teacher council," he said.
‘Merdeka’ Curriculum Training for Local Teachers (Photo credit: Fachmi)
‘Merdeka’ Curriculum Training for Local Teachers (Photo credit: Fachmi)
‘Merdeka’ Curriculum Training for Local Teachers (Photo credit: Fachmi)
‘Merdeka’ Curriculum Training for Local Teachers (Photo credit: Fachmi)
‘Merdeka’ Curriculum Training for Local Teachers (Photo credit: Fachmi)
A representative from the Samboja District Education Office's Regional Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD), Mr. Lukman, and two speakers from the East Kalimantan Mobilising Teacher Centre (BGP), Suharman, S.Pd., M.Pd, and Haniah, S.Pd., M.Pd, also attended the training session.
The teachers involved were asked to directly use the training materials, by compiling and presenting learning modules. The training session went well, and the teachers were enthusiastic about discussing the difficulties they faced whilst teaching.
Participants were asked to provide feedback and give their impressions of the training at the end of the session. The majority of participants responded positively to the training activity and expressed interest for similar activities to take place in the future. They also thanked the BOS Foundation for facilitating such a worthwhile activity.
It was a usual day at the Nyaru Menteng forest school, where young orangutans were learning from one another while their human surrogate mothers looked on from below.
Our Post-Release Monitoring (PRM) team at Camp Himba Pambelum in Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR), Central Kalimantan, encountered Suci, a young female orangutan, three times back in 2023.
Kopral has been receiving treatment at the clinic since April 2023 due to wounds on the sole of his right foot and fungus between his toes.
