Wisnu will turn three years old by August this year. We did not plan to put him to school so early, but so far we see that he will make some friends and learn to socialize if he joins the play group. Moreover, he has to see his cousin, Alexa, leaving for school every morning and often crying for not understanding why he can’t go with her as they most of the time spend time together- to the park , to supermarkets, to take a walk.
We set our own criteria for choosing the right school for Wisnu such as
1. location
we prefer the one in our neighborhood area since we can not rely on the public transportation so much in terms of safety and let alone the comfortability. Besides, we strongly believe that Wisnu should not suffer from the traffic jam only to get to his school as we want him to enjoy his journey to school and do not get burned out before he gets to school.
2. Affordable fee
Having to siblings and a government employee father, Wisnu needs to live in reality. We wish we could send him to the best school in the world, but we want Wisnu to understand that this is the best thing that we can give to him. We do not see the urgency to spend more than 3 million rupiahs to send him to a pre school as we’d better allocate the money for later higher level of education or for putting him into some other additional courses which suit his interest –either swimming club, painting class or music course or anything else.
3. the physical condition of the school
At least the school environment is hygienic, has good air circulation and gives ample rooms for the students to move around and play.
4. the atmosphere of the school
It might be ideal if we can find a school which adopt the up-to-date methodology and adjust it with the needs of the children, but such school might cost us a fortune. Anyway, Wisnu will spend only three hours in a week in a play group and we’ll provide him with other resources and stimulations to enrich him at home and it is still our responsibilities – the parents—to educate him and teach him basic values he’ll need to posses. Speaking of being realistic, we could only say that the atmosphere of the school at least should be lively and friendly for Wisnu . How to find it out? We need to see how the teachers communicate and treat the children inside and outside the classroom. We also observe whether the majority of the students seem to enjoy the activities and feel secured.
It took us several weeks to decide which one is the best. Here are some profile of the candidate:
PERISKAAji went to this kindergarten :) and for some sentimental reasons we need to check this school out. It is situated at the Kompleks Perkebunan –only less than 100 meters away from our residence and therefore within walking distance. The school charges Rp 1,800,000 for one year and Rp 150,000 for monthly fee. The school starts at 8.00 to 9.30 or 10.00 to 11.30 everyday. One of the teachers say that it is quite alright to let the students be absent or late sometimes (!!!). Being an old building, the rooms are dark and hollow. When we ask Wisnu whether he ‘d like to be there, he firmly said no.
Abhilasa Pre scool at our temple—aditya temple
It’s located at Rawamangun, about 40 minute drive from our residence. One of the organizers says that they might provide pick up service if there is a demand for that. The special thing about this school is that it offers basic Hindu teaching and Balinese culture. We can also say that it’s the cheapest school as it only charges Rp 700,000 for registration and Rp 150,000 for monthly tuition. The school starts at 08.30 to 10.00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Sahabat Kecil
It is actually a big old house used for school. There are some classrooms and gazebo, but unfortunately there is also a shaggy bird cage . When we visited the place, there was no one around to give information and we did not see any of the students either. We could read from the poster that they only charge us Rp 5,000 for per coming.
Sanggar Kreativitas Bobo
There is a small public car (KWK) which passes the school. It is actually not really a school but center of creativity. Since there is a great demand for pre
School, so they opened pre school. They have a big yard where the children can play the slide, see-saw and swing. They have interesting activities for the children, quite good collections of reference books for the students as well as the teachers. The teachers seem friendly and the activities are quite interesting, but we have not had any trial yet. Unfortunately the classrooms are not very clean and they use old air conditioner which will probably trigger Wisnu’s asthma.
JEMARI
It is situated at Kompleks Bapenas, Siaga and there is a small public car (KWK) which can take us there. The registration fee is Rp 1,000,000 and the monthly tuition is Rp 275,000. The school provides “healthy food” once a month but we are afraid that their definition of healthy food is far from our own definition.
Learning Step
It is located at Cikatomas II, Kebayoran Baru. It is actually a new school so that it has some nice new toys and furniture. The teachers use English eventhough they still have some mispronunciation. Wisnu joined trial classes there twice, for Jumper class (age of 3-4) and toddler (age of 2 -3) but he did not seem to fit into the class (based on Aji’s observation). The teachers seem not to know how to handle a trial class visitor as Wisnu was left out during the trial. We decided then it’s just not for Wisnu.
TK Pak Kasur
It is situated at Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu, about 20 minutes from our house by bus. The building is quite nice and big, the classrooms are air conditioned, the yard is also very big for many students to play with the slide, see-saw or swing. We went there and met the principal who is a middle-aged woman and looks a bit strict for a kindergarten principal. It is just too expensive for –not to underestimate—such school with no special curriculum to offer : Rp 3,350,0000 for annual fee and Rp 195,000 for monthly fee. Just because it uses the brand’s name “pak kasur” who happened to be a famous kindergarten teacher on TV in the 90’s , it has the confidence to charge that much.
Gita Niti
The school claims to be musical play group which offers 50 % of musical curriculum and 50 % national curriculum. Music is given as the subject and at the same time as a tool to convey the materials. The students are taught living values—not a specific religion. We basically like the concept of this school and had a good talk with the principal. Wisnu also seemed to enjoy the activities and could get along with the other kids during the trial, and he even cried when it was time to . It costs Rp 3,000,000 for the registration and rp 400,000 for the monthly fee. The school schedule is also very convenient as it starts at 10.00 to 12.00 every Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Anyway, we still have some reservations about the way the teachers talk to the students—they insist the students to do things the teachers want and they way the teachers want the students to. Besides, the teachers say too many “don’t” for things they should have been able to tolerate such as when some students enjoy running around in the classroom while the other students were singing (it’s actually because the students got bored sitting down and only listening too long)
Well, so far we could not decide yet which school we choose for Wisnu. Perhaps we’d better wait until July. Meanwhile, we will look for more information and try out more schools while we still have time. We just could not figure out that choosing a play group would be this challenging !!!
