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Jakarta. Teachers in underfunded rural schools are using their creativity to improvise teaching aids amid a shortage of essential facilities.

Aprilianti, headmistress of a state elementary school in Sungai Solok subdistrict, Riau, said she uses materials from nature to teach math to first-graders at the school.

“I get the kids to collect stones from around the school yard or from their homes, and we use those to teach them how to count,” she said.

“An even more basic method is to take a ‘sapu lidi’ [broom made from palm fronds] and count out the number of fronds.”

The school does not have electricity and is prone to regular flooding.

Teaching resources are limited and only two of the school’s 12 teachers have completed a bachelor’s degree.

“We live in an economically backward area,” Aprilianti said.

“There are many things that need to be done in Sungai Solok.

“There are only 106 students, but we feel like we’re teaching 1,600 students,” she added.

For Roben Yangkat, headmaster of an elementary school in Kunyit, East Kalimantan, the problem is far more acute — there are only two teachers for the school’s 119 students.

“We take the students outside and split them up into groups, and we get them to identify plants with tap roots and those with fibrous roots,” he said of a typical lesson.

“We also get the fifth and sixth graders to participate in activities to ‘re-green’ desertified land in their neighborhood twice a month with their parents. This not only helps them recognize the plants, but also gives them life skills.”

Despite the lack of teachers and resources, Roben said the students seemed determined to make the most of their lessons.

“We’re grateful that the students are very passionate about studying,” he said.

“And even though they don’t live in a big city with proper supporting facilities, the sixth graders at our school always pass the national exams.”

Roben and Aprilianti were among 214 teachers from 107 schools who took part in the first teacher training course held by the private Tanoto Foundation four years ago.

The foundation was established by wealthy businessman Sukanto Tanoto and aims to improve the quality of educators across the country, particularly among primary schools, where only 21 percent of teachers have a four-year college degree.

“From this statistic, it’s clear that we need to do something to ensure that quality education can continue in our schools,” said Sihol Aritonang, the foundation’s chairman.

“We’ve been training teachers for four years now as a form of support for the government’s efforts to boost the quality of education in the country.”

Fasli Jalal, the deputy education minister, said it was crucial for the private sector to become involved in such efforts.

“Corporate social responsibility programs like the one set up by the Tanoto Foundation are very important because we have 268,000 schools across the country and we can’t improve them all on our own,” he said.

Anies Baswedan, the rector of Paramadina University and brains behind the “Indonesia Teaches” (“Indonesia Mengajar”) program, in which young college graduates are recruited to teach in deprived areas across the country, said a good education system was crucial for Indonesia’s future.

“If there’s no intervention in the education system, social and economic conditions will not improve,” he said.

“Education is an accelerator for betterment. We need to adequately prepare our children for the future.”