Thursday, 29 August 2019 was a new chapter for 186 teachers. These teachers have been selected to advance education in Papua by teaching children from primary, junior and senior high schools in all districts of Mappi regency.
The programme (GPDT Kabupaten Mappi) is a collaboration between UGM’s Papua Task Force and Centre for Capacity Development and Cooperation in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM with the regional government of Mappi.
This time is the fourth to be held with the previous ones being done in Puncak regency (2013 and 2015) and Intan Jaya regency ( 2017).
GPDT Program is the real contribution of the Papua Task Force in order to improve education quality and human resource of the Papuan people.
"The teachers that come from various parts of Indonesia are expected to give real contribution to the education in Papua. They also have a significant role in building the spirit of Indonesian nation among children and people in the interior parts of Papua,” said Drs. Bambang Purwoko, M.A, chairman of the task force on Friday (30/8).
There are 519 applicants to this programme that did selection tests from 7 May - 10 June 2019 which included documents, written test, teaching plans, microteaching, psychology and interview. These were done in cities such as Merauke, Mappi, Jayapura, Sorong, Nabire, Timika, Yogyakarta, Ambon, Medan, Makassar, Labuan Bajo, and Ende.
The selection yielded as many as 186 teachers who were from various study programmes such as basic education teaching, natural science education, social science education, mathematics, English, Catholicism education, and so on.
The 186 people are currently doing preparations before being sent to the Papua. The preparations include outbound and team building given by Kodim 1707 Merauke, psychology training as well as experience sharing by previous teachers to help prepare the team for their assignments in Mappi regency.