Education : Until High School

So, about our education system, there is no big difference in general. We started school usually at toddler’s age, kindergarten, and prekindergarten the place of kids age 3 and 4. Prekindergarten isn’t necessary though. Some people didn’t study at prekindergarten because it’s basically not an official school we have to take; instead, they go straight to kindergarten.

The different between Kindergarten and prekindergarten are, one: the age kids started to study there. Prekindergarten started at age 3 until 5, and the kindergarten started at age 5. Two: Prekindergarten basically a playgroup for toddlers, there they learn pretty interesting things such as how the animal sound, learn about colors, basically they learn non-formal education that organized for kids under five years old. And kindergarten is pre-elementary formal schooling that held for slightly older children where they were taught how to write and how to read, also how to draw and do simple math. Also, there is another school for underage children called raudatu athfal. And this school is more likely to be a religious school (Islamic school).

Moving on, In some Asian countries, pupils tend to sit in class, and the teachers of each subject will come to us. For example in the first year of junior high school, you’ll be put in a class with some friends. And if the first period after the bell rang is math, then the math teacher will come to the class, along with the next period. And for PE the students will go to schoolyard or gymnasium to take a lesson.

Usually, students will be given two times of period for a break. The first break won’t be as long as the second break since students would likely use the time to pray at the mosque. Especially the Muslim one (since my country’s main belief is Islam), and for non-muslims, they’d go to the canteen or doing everything they wanted to do on the break time. But we aren’t allowed to go outside of the school area until the last period bell rang, that means we can finally  go home after the approximately 8 hours of studying.

About 20 until 30 students are in the class. For some school, every year the students (in the same year) will be mixed randomly so that the pupils wouldn’t meet the same person over and over again. But my school apparently didn’t want to establish the system,  so…. I’ll have to meet the person who intimidated me with ‘the look’ constantly.

Almost the majority of schools here compel pupils to wear uniforms daily. For the government’s sake, they assured. Sometimes I imagined what it was like to go to school every day without wearing monotonous uniforms all over again.

We spent about 12 years on educating our self. Started in kindergarten at age 5 (some people don’t go through this pre-elementary school) and we go to elementary school at age 7 and study there for 6 years. Then we go to junior high school at age 13 until we graduated at age 15 and then continue to the high school also for 3  years straight.

And I’m not going to write until college, because I haven’t experience that, I still have a couple years left until I level up myself to the fullest.  So what I want to tell you guys is that school here is unbelievably incredible, I mean with all of the hardships we went through, we somehow can overcome it. I think that’s what makes us, Asian students (I seriously hate using the racial word) more complicated, but in good positive ways.

Photo: credit to my friend who took this at Kartini's day.