Republika, page 5

First to second grade students in Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi need not worry anymore with the complexities of mathematics and seriousness of learning to read. The Gowa Regency Administration will remove the subjects of reading, writing, arithmetic (Calistung) and replace them with faith and piety (Imtak) lessons.

The idea of replacing Calistung was initiated by Gowa Regent Ichsan Yasin Limpo as an effort to provide freedom and comfort in learning for children of the golden ages of 3-8 years. This breakthrough is simultaneously as the continuation and completion of the Sustainable Completed Class System (SKTB) which has been adopted by Gowa education in the last several years.

The regent explained parents should not be proud of their children aged three to eight years who are already smart in reading and counting. Children of that age is not yet the time to be filled with intelligence. Parents should not forbid them to play in order to turn on the right and left brain networks respectively 100 billion intelligence networks.

In the initial stage, this education policy would apply in eight schools in Gowa as a trial until January and will be valid until evaluation in 2016 in the second semester with monthly evaluations.

Makassar State University lecturer Prof M Jufri said, he and several other experts approved of Ichsan YL’s idea. The psychological consideration is that calistung in first grade (SD Kelas 1) is inappropriate.