SLEMAN, Indonesia (UCAN) – Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo of Semarang has asked teachers and students of a Jesuit-run school to deeply understand and appreciate the freedom their school’s liberal educational approach offers.
The prelate addressed teachers, students and alumni of De Britto College Senior High School in Sleman district, Yogyakarta, about 430 kilometers southeast of Jakarta, during a Mass to celebrate the school’s 60th anniversary.
The freedom the school gives should not be understood as being “free from rules, laws or other bonds,” but rather as being “free to act responsibly based on conscience and love,” he told about 1,500 people who gathered at the school on Aug. 23.
According to headmaster Theodorus Sukristiyono, the school embraces a liberal education approach that allows students to develop themselves. Teachers, he told UCA News on Aug. 28, serve as support to help the students choose life options that are beneficial to themselves and society.
Unlike other schools in Indonesia, he said, his students are not obliged to wear uniforms and may grow their hair long. In classes they are free to express opposing views responsibly. They are also free to initiate social activities, Sukristiyono pointed out.
The De Britto website (http://www.debritto-yog.sch.id/) says it espouses the values of love, freedom, openness and plurality, and it elaborates on the philosophy behind this. Love, it says, molds students into people willing to serve and fight for truth and justice, while freedom encourages them to act responsibly according to their conscience. The school sees openness to and respect for plurality as part of the maturity it strives to develop in its students.
At the Aug. 23 Mass, Archbishop Suharyo pointed out that the word “education” derives from the Latin ex and ducere, which mean “out” and “to lead,” respectively. He urged teachers and students to lead people out to freedom. “I believe the freedom introduced in this school is understood as freedom to act for the common good, in line with its motto ‘Man for and with others,'” added the archbishop, whose archdiocese covers Yogyakarta.
Nineteen priests, most of them De Britto alumni, concelebrated the Mass. Among them were the school’s rector, Jesuit Father Josephus Ageng Marwata, and Jesuit provincial superior Father Robertus Bellarminus Riyo Mursanto.
According to Sukristiyono, the school’s liberal education approach is based on the spirituality of Jesuit co-founder Saint Ignatius of Loyola and aims to train students to be self-reliant.
Asked by UCA News how far this liberal approach has influenced students, the Catholic layman said it has helped them achieve good results in academic studies, athletics and the arts. It has also encouraged students to do social work on their own initiative.
“After an earthquake hit Yogyakarta on May 27, 2006,” he recalled, “several students took the initiative to distribute rice to survivors. The following days they organized their friends and built aid-coordination posts.”
Alvin Egan Natanael, an 11th-grader, said the approach has helped him develop his personality. “We are taught not only academic subjects but also life values,” the 16-year-old said.
Before the Aug. 23 Mass ended, Sweida Zulalhamsyah, a Muslim alumnus who heads the school’s alumni association, announced the school is offering scholarships to poor students “to make sure no student will stop studying because of financial problems.”
After the liturgy, Archbishop Suharyo released 60 birds symbolizing the school’s 60 years. The next morning, school representatives visited the graves of priest-rectors, teachers and alumni.
Founded on Aug. 19, 1948, De Britto College Senior High School now has more than 800 students from various religions and about 9,500 alumni, 37 of whom are priests.