SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo Turned Mid-Term into A Three Day Live In at Pujon : Does Students Count It as A Refreshment?

For the past two years, SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo has participated in the Ministry of Education’s program, “Kurikulum Merdeka” by implementing it on a “Projek Penguatan Profil Pelajar Pancasila” project-based mid-term. Once those projects were completed, the students were assigned to live and teach in an area far from their own living environment contour – both socially, and geographically. Last February, this program, formally known as PJ ILOP (Pembangunan Jaya Inbound Living & Observation Program) was held at Madiredo village that is located in Pujon, East Java.

In the span of three days (27 – 29 of February), the students interact with Madiredo through a variety of numerous activities, ranging from teaching at the local elementary to cooking a special local dessert. In those three days, the students are also given the experience to live in a local home with the local homeowners. In the village, the students got the chance to see and learn about the local Integrated Waste Processing Site, that reportedly earned over IDR 120 million each year from selling household waste only. And at the end of the trip, the students unwind themselves by spending a few hours swimming and sight seeing the clear, luminous Madiredo lake. To go more in-depth and personal, The Arc asked a few students to describe their experience, here are their thoughts.

Gwen ’25, “ILOP was fun and exhausting at the same time! We got a bunch of stories and experience from it. More over, we got to know about environments outside of our own, such a good experience.”

Aurellia ’25, “Super fun! It really is a time where we can learn a lot and spend some quality time with our friends from school, also a time to learn to blend in with the culture there, which was so cool and fun!”

Shania ’25, “Incredibly fun, because we got lots of experience there. But if I’m being honest it doesn’t linger as much as last year. Because this year’s village and houses are much more modern, so the “village” vibe wasn’t quite there.”

Aulia ’25, “ILOP was super duper fun, lots of new activities on ILOP that we’ve done together and will be unforgettable for sure. ILOP really gave me new lessons, first, about life that’s of course different from ours, tightening friendship living under the same roof, and new things that we probably don’t get to experience in our usual days.”

Descha ’25, “fun, thanks to ILOP I now know about the culture differences between a city and a village. I also receive lots of new knowledges and experience.”

Niesya ’25, “ILOP was so much fun, now we know how it feels to live in a place that you could say pretty different from our own, also we learned cohesive, working to live together so that we don’t waste the minutes, in conclusion I received lots of experience from ILOP 2024.”

Kiara ’25, “This year’s ILOP live up to last year’s, also got new experience, more time with friends and less screen time (for me this is incredible because it’s rare), more walking, and the people there were very nice and welcoming to us! Now we know the locals daily activities, and I think it’s really fun to get accustomed to their lives.”

The ultimate goal of this program is to let the students get a grasp of realities outside their comfort, and to teach them to not only view their nation from where they stand. This program was made, so that the materials written on the whiteboard each day, got the chance to made its way outside the classroom. And with a sprinkle of adventures, PJ ILOP has successfully been an eye-opening refreshment to the students.

Editor in Chief : Syakira Azzah K.S.

Journalist : Syakira Azzah K.S.

Editor & Translator : Syakira Azzah K.S.

Documentation : Mr. Andhy