SUSTAINABLE CLASS 3: LITTLE VILLAGE HEADS PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE VILLAGES
The morning atmosphere at SMPN 1 Hulu Kuantan, Sampurago Village, Kuantan Singingi Regency, Riau Province, after the semester exams looks more cheerful and full of enthusiasm. With cheerful smiles on their faces, most of the students were actively involved in a mutual cooperation activity to clean up the school environment. They swept the yard, tidied up the garden, and picked up and disposed of trash in its place. This activity reflects a sense of collective responsibility to keep the school clean and beautiful.
Meanwhile, in the Science laboratory room, there was a different atmosphere. Several student council members had gathered enthusiastically for a special learning session on "Sustainable Villages". The program is part of a government initiative aimed at building villages that are environmentally friendly, inclusive and able to face global challenges. The material presented covered the concept of sustainability applied to everyday life, so that students can understand the importance of their role in supporting sustainable development.
The benefits that students can gain from this class are that they will get to know more about their village profile, get used to meaningful participation, and practice systematic, critical, and methodical thinking skills. Contextual learning raises problems around the school, allowing children to be exposed to issues that occur in the village. In this lesson, students visited the Lubuk Ambacang village office and played the role of village officials.
From this process, and considering that this activity was a follow-up meeting, it was seen that some students already had the courage to express their opinions and agree with the points proposed. In addition, the WWF sister also explained several methods such as problem trees and rubrics for designing sustainable activities to identify social, economic, and environmental issues and their solutions. This activity is done in groups so that students can discuss sustainable problems in the village and formulate solutions.
As the first activity, students received a presentation from the Head of Lubuk Ambacang Village, Kuantan Singingi, Mr. Iid Siswandi. He explained about the village profile; the structure, duties, and functions of the village government; and forms of community participation in the village. On this rare occasion, students were able to ask questions to the Village Head such as the character that must be possessed by the village head, the obstacles to leading the village, the term of office of the village head, and the flow of village funds. From here, students' enthusiasm and curiosity about their village can be seen. On the sidelines of the activity, the Village Head advised the children to study hard, increase their knowledge of local culture, and respect teachers so that they grow up to be smart, cultured, and have good character.
In the second activity, students were divided into three groups and directed to map sustainability issues in the village using a problem tree. The medium commonly used by village facilitators consists of the main problem located at the trunk, the root of the problem at the root of the tree, and the impact of the problem at the top of the tree. To fill it in, students can start from the trunk as the main problem, then move on to the root of the problem and its impact. In the mapping process, the children still looked difficult, but they still completed the task guided by teachers who had received training in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The group that studied social issues raised the theme of school dropouts. Students highlighted that the root causes of dropping out are economic factors, lack of motivation to learn, addiction to online games, and mental health issues. Meanwhile, in the impact of dropping out, students wrote about unemployment, poverty, and crime. From this process, children are trained to think systematically and critically.
In the third activity, students determine the environmental, social, and economic targets of the village and analyze the activities that can be done to achieve the targets and overcome the problems. The environmental group has the target of making the river clean, the environment green, and slowing down global warming. For this reason, the activities are to eradicate illegal gold mining, reforestation, and reduce plastic waste. Involving students in thinking about issues that occur in the village will encourage them to find solutions.
At the end of the activity, the little village head and the little village secretary along with the little villagers determine the priority activities to be implemented. Village officials are selected by lottery. During the role-playing activity, the students looked cheerful. Rizki, the little village head, shyly expressed that the learning was fun and made him learn to speak up. Similar to Rizki, Sifa was happy to be able to learn outside the classroom and get to know her village better.
One important aspect in building a sustainable village is community participation. Students who are accustomed to being involved in school or community activities will be trained in expressing ideas and working in groups. The hope is that one day the younger generation in Lubuk Ambacang village will be able to launch equitable village development.