A
DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE TO FORGET ...
PHILIPPINE
I’M IN LOVE
(By: Intan Rahmawaty,
S.Pd Guidance and Counseling Teacher
at SMPN 43 Bandung)
My
trip to the Philippines with 25 great high school, vocational, junior high and
elementary school teachers was very interesting. All were facilitated by the
Attache of Education and Culture of the Indonesian Embassy, in the
Philippines, Dr. Lili Nurlaili, M.Ed who is very extraordinary and familiar
among Indonesian teachers. Four days there with all the interesting activities
make the day and time seem to pass quickly every day. Our activity there was in
the form of a comparative study / bench marking of three schools in the Calamba
area, an international seminar and cultural tourism. Everything passed was
short. I work as a guidance and counseling teacher at SMPN 43 Bandung eager to
see how the profile and about the guidance and counseling in the Philippines,
is there anything different and interesting there, so it becomes a question and
my curiosity to be able to see about guidance and counseling there.
My
first visit was to a school which in my opinion was very good and
extraordinary, a private school in Calamba called the University of Perpetual
Help, the school facilitated our activities while there. When I visited the
counseling and counseling room there was a comfortable feeling there, the
counselor there consisted of two women. The room consists of a living room with
a comfortable sofa, there is an aquarium with the sound of water so that it can
cause relaxation if there are students who are counseling or parents who are
consulting. The counselor's workspace looks neat with each activity board as well
as the counseling room in each workspace. The guidance and counseling
administration cabinet is neatly owned by each counselor, the BK administration
is very complete, starting from the BK program and the student's progress
notes. What is unique in the counseling room is that in the counseling room
there is a special self-development room used for students' psychological
testing services. In this school, counselors have psychological testing
instruments starting from elementary, secondary and high school level which are
designed and used only for those schools. The problem of students at this
school in general is that many students feel less concerned about having
friends to confide in because their parents are on average busy working, so
counselors here are very professional in serving students to be ready to share
stories and counseling.
My
second visit was to a school called Camp Vicente LIM NHS. This school is very
simple but the teacher and students are very extraordinary. In this school, I
find it unique that counselors here are divided into two, namely counselors who
specialize in handling students, providing services to students and parents,
and again, a counselor who specifically holds and makes all the guidance and
counseling administration both daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. The BK
administration there is very complete with a special room for the BK
administration. For the BK room there consists of three parts namely; a living
room complete with a sofa, a group guidance room concurrently a counseling room
and a special BK administration room. The problem at this school is more for
the students who psychologically have to deal with their divorced parents who
like to consume alcohol.
My
third visit was to a school that was quite far with access to the main road
called the Looc Integrated School, the first impression of entering this school
was extraordinary to see students and teachers who were very friendly and
practical. We were welcomed with dances that encouraged our enthusiasm as
guests to join in the dancing. When I entered the counseling room at this
school the impression was very unique and very interesting, the counseling room
was small but very comfortable. The BK room is full of nice icons and
interesting motivational sentences. The counselor is only 1 person but is very
creative and cares about all students. The counselor designs the room with
interesting and unique images and icons. The knick knacks are very good.
Counselors told that in this school there are many middle-class but multitalent
students, there are also LGBT students here so that counselors have programs
that aim to make them LGBT that are quality, multitalent, achievers, healthy
and acceptable in the community with their achievements. The mantra or slogan
of this school was put up in the BK room and in each class that is
"Honesty is the best policy" meaning it turns out that there are many
sad and touching stories behind the students' stories, so honesty in any case
is very important to them. Teachers and counselors there are very very compact
in embracing and giving love to students. Their tolerance towards people of
different faiths is very good.
After
studying the profile and counseling guidance activities in several schools we
visited, we then took part in an international seminar entitled smart ways
using internet and social media in the classroom. This seminar was very
extraordinary, the speakers and speakers were very great. The theme chosen was
very helpful for us in carrying out our duties as teachers. In the interlude of
the seminar there was a display from our group in the form of traditional
dances from Indonesia in the form of peacock and sintren dance. The seminar
participants were very enthusiastic and amazed to see traditional dances from
Indonesia. It was great when the two countries that were friendly with the
Philippines and Indonesia united in a seminar, exchanging experiences and
teaching material. We got a lot of knowledge from Filipino seminar participants
and vice versa. After the seminar we were treated to an extraordinary musical
concert from Perpetual School where the performers of the music concert were
students who were highly trained in music. It is truly remarkable that we see
all the talents of the interests of perpetual school students who are very
competent in music.
After
visiting several schools to learn the guidance and counseling in bench marking
activities and attend international seminars on smart ways of using the
internet, we visited two very interesting tourist attractions. Our first visit
was a historical museum called the Jose Rizal Museum located in Fort Santiago
Philippines. We traced the location of the museum, from the front yard to the
back. The place is very wide and complete all the historical objects that are
there are still very clean and well-maintained even though it has been hundreds
of years. About 1 hour we visited the mesuem and learned the history of Jose
Rizal. After visiting the museum, we visited the second tourist attraction, we
visited a highland area in the Philippines called Tagaytay City, located in the
Cavite province of Luzon Island. In this area we can see the active Merapi
volcano called Taal Mountain, the beautiful and enchanting views of the
volcanoes we can enjoy from here. Tagaytay offers a very expensive view of a
combination of volcanoes and lakes. Apart from that we play sky ranch, there is
a 63 meter high gondala ride which gives us the opportunity to see Mount Taal
and Lake Taal from a height. About 3 hours we enjoyed the attractions in
Tagaytay
Our
activities in the Philippines will end. Our last day was filled with activities
by visiting the Indonesian Embassy in Manila. We visited the office of our
beloved mother's workplace, Dr. Lili Nurlaili, M. Ed who is very extraordinary
and familiar among Indonesian teachers, she is an attache for Indonesian
education and culture in Manila. We listened to his presentation of work
programs and his extraordinary experiences. We took a photo together at the
Indonesian Embassy with him. Do not want to feel out of the Indonesian Embassy
because it is very comfortable clean and quiet atmosphere. But we had to say
goodbye to Mother Lili and leave the Indonesian Embassy, it was also sad and
we really prayed and hoped to visit again. After from the Indonesian Embassy we
had to go to the airport and return to Indonesia, there were still a few hours
before the flight departure schedule so we decided to visit a large mall in
Manila called SM Mall of Asia, where we bought souvenirs for relatives and friends
we are in Indonesia. When it was only 1 hour we finally rushed to the airport
and got ready to fly back to Indonesia. Finally, we returned to Indonesia by
Cebu plane, thank God, arrived in Indonesia in good health and safety.
