Activities at The Pa van der Steur Schools

 

Since the curricular year of 1979/1980, the Pa van der Steur Foundation has run an Elementary School named the "Pa van der Steur Christian Elementary School". In the first year the pupils numbered 60 of whom the majority were children from the Orphanage who had previously attended a State Elementary School. These students were divided into 3 grades namely the first, second and third grades that occupied the three rooms of the boys dorm. In the curricular year of 1980/1981 the Christian Elementary School building with 7 study rooms and an office, was completed and made ready for use.

In 1986 the number of students rose to 622 and they were assigned to 17 class rooms. Although more study rooms had been added, these still did not suffice, so several classes had to attend courses in the afternoon.

By 1992, nearly 2,000 children had passed through the Pa van der Steur Christian Elementary School, and among the first graduates there were many that found success in their studies as well as their employement. There were those who became officers in the Indonesian Armed Forces, journalists, bank employees, and there were even those who became stars of Sinetron (a Tv series) and TV advertisements.

In the 1982/1983 curricular year the Pa van de Steur Foundation opened a Kindergarten and a Pa van der Steur Christian Junior High School. The Kindergarten naturally had the aim of offering services to the public in the pre-school educational sector.

With the christian Junior High School, the Foundation intended to accommodate newly graduated Elementary School children. Although every new curricular year the Christian Junior High School registers only 40 students on average, their schoolarly achievements are very good. For instance, in the 1989 National Final Study Evaluation, the average grades of the school occupied second place among the 72 Junior High Schools that participated in the examinations in the Bekasi Regency. And in 1990 and 1991, the Christian Junior High School also attained third and fourth places among the 16 Junior High Schools that participated in the examinations.

In all activities at District level or at Regency level, the Pa van der Steur Christian Junior High School is always to be reckoned with. And the Pa van der Steur Christian High School has been designated to become the secretariat for the youth section of the Red Cross in the Pondok Gede Region by the Bekasi branch of the Red Cross.

The decision taken by the Executive Board of the Pa van der Steur Foundation to develop educational services turned out to be a good one. The Pa van der Steur Kindergarten, the Christian Elementary School and the Christian Junior High School have all been accepted and acknowledged by the community. The aforementioned schools have become theirs, as it were.

In the curricular year of 1992/1993 the Kindergarten, the Christian Elementary School and the Christian Junior High School had 700 pupils. This means that hundreds of parents have entrusted the education of their children to schools organized by the Pa van der Steur Foundation.

As well as this, the very existence of these schools will hopefully support Pa van der Steur's work in the future, so that it will be better known by the government and the public.