The principal of MI Assalam Islamic elementary school, Priyo Hendro Purwanto, revealed that when he was first appointed by the Batu City Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs to be involved in the INOVASI program, he was not confident. “There is nothing special about this school that deserves to be shown off to other schools. Learning takes place as usual, and the teachers’ motivation to teach is normal,” he said.

However, Hendro was determined about one thing: if the school would later be appointed as an INOVASI partner, then it must change. “To be appointed as a partner means to be given a mandate and being entrusted, which must be warranted. I would have to keep this commitment and prove that this Islamic elementary school (MI) could advance and be better than other schools,” he explained.

The first step Hendro took after he received training was to gather all of the teachers, foundation administrators, school committee, and parent representatives together. “I told them that this school had to change if we wanted it to progress. I explained that the initial change that had to be made was in the classroom,” he noted.

Hendro’s message received a positive response from all sides. Even the parents and the committee were ready to help with the class reconstruction plan. Hendro worked with all of the parties to reconstruct the classrooms, create reading corners in each classroom and on the school grounds, make school board magazines, and change the atmosphere of the classroom as well as the overall school environment to make it more literacy-focused. In almost all corners of the school, there are now bookshelves filled with books to attract the students.

According to Hendro, he came up with this concept because the school does not yet have a library with proper facilities. “Because I haven’t been able to fulfill the students’ rights by building a comfortable library, I have tried to bring the books closer to the students. It turns out that this method works. During break time, the students are going to the reading areas; they’ve also started reading for longer periods of time,” he said.

Hendro invited all of his school teachers to observe the success of SDN Sumbergondo 2 state elementary school. “I observed that the condition of our school was similar to that of SDN Sumbergondo, so I invited the teachers to visit the school in order to motivate them to make the proposed changes,” he explained.

Hendro’s six months’ of hard work has paid off. The appearance of the school has changed, the parents’ and committee’s support and trust in the school have improved, and the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Batu City has become interested, and has made MI Assalam Islamic elementary school a point of reference for other Islamic elementary schools in the Batu City area.

A group from the Ministry of Education of Afghanistan visited the school on 21 March 2019. They were very interested in MI Assalam because the school is considered to be capable of applying Islamic-based learning while still maintaining a pleasant atmosphere.

“My dream that is yet to be fulfilled is to create a library that’s comfortable for the students. Hopefully this will happen soon,” concluded Hendro.