March 2024 is the month with the most religious holidays. This month, the students only went to school four out of five days averagely, due to the holidays. Starting from the Hindunese new year, “Nyepi” or “Day of Silence” on the 11th. Then it was quickly followed by the start of Muslims Holy Month of Ramadhan, the next day on the 12th. And the month ended with Good Friday and Easter that falls on the 29th and 31st of March.
For the last few years, SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo has tied these religious celebration together through a series of activities in a program known as, “Religious Fest”. SMA Pembangunan Jaya takes pride in having a spread of diversity when it comes to the students’s religions and beliefs. Due to the respectful and gentle environment of the school’s community and it’s ablity to support every single of it’s students beliefs, the students are able to freely embraced themselves fully. And this Religious Fest is one of their source to.
The series of festivities started with an outdoor learning and living experience for the 10th grade students. The students visit the local islamic boarding school, orphanage, and nursing home. They did various of activities including social works, religious practice, and a mini live-in. The Arc asked a few 10th grade students to tell their story during this program, here’s what they said :
Jacinda ’26 who went to the local islamic boarding school shared her impression towards the (islamic boarding school) students there “So we went to the Islamic boarding school on Monday, March 18th. The name of the place is the Islamic boarding school “Al-Falah”. Then for the first activity we did when we arrived there, we were gathered at the pavilion in the middle of the place because there would be a presentation of material from the ustad from the Islamic boarding school, there we were given material about fasting. So the ustad discussed fasting in more depth. After the session from the ustad giving material about fasting, we were invited to go to the grave of the founder of the Islamic boarding school, there we were invited to walk to his grave. Then after leaving the grave we were invited to walk 600/700 meters to another Islamic boarding school. When we arrived we were invited to go deeper, and there we were shown that there was a house of the founder of NU which was still being guarded there. Until there was the call to prayer for midday prayer, we finally prayed together in that place, so there was already an empty place for congregational prayers. Well, here what amazed me was that the female students there really, what do you call them, basically, as soon as they heard the sound of the call to prayer, they immediately took their ablutions and immediately gathered to pray together, that was really cool”. Then Jacinda also told about how the Islamic boarding school students there really understand Arabic and their ability to quickly note down the meaning of the Al-Quran, which Jacinda really admired. Jacinda explained that this series of activities continued until very late at night and was overall repeated again the following day.
Alberth ’26 and Nenggo ’26 visited the local nursing home and shared their activities there. Alberth explained, “During this outdoor learning which are usually called live in or retreat at Religious Fest. Those who are Christians, whether Protestant Christians or Catholic Christians, went to stay in 4 orphanages or boarding houses divided into 4 groups. One of them is our group, namely the Pondok Pemulihan Efrata group, whose members are Alberth, Nenggo, Matthew, Eliza, Kezia, Inori, Acca. This place is not like an orphanage, but more like a rehabilitation place for our brothers and sisters who have mental disorders, they call them ‘Saudara Layan’. There were many activities that we did. Examples include supervising the activities of the Saudara Layan, worshiping together, eating together, cooking, watching films, and so on”. Alberth continued, “Of course, from this activity we can learn many things about others who have this condition. We can also be more grateful because we are fortunate enough to have a better conditions than some of the people there, and hopefully because of this activity everyone can care more about other people who have these conditions in other places”. Nenggo also told us about his impression regarding this program, “You could say life changing. Having the opportunity to do activities in places that people rarely know about and serve people in need is an unforgettable experience”.
After the students came home from their short trip, the next part of the festivity quickly followed. SMA Pembangunan Jaya invites 5 different religious leaders at the same time to discuss with the students about a motion from the lens of different religions. This year’s motion is about how faith is made as a shield of resilience in one’s soul. This part of the program is meant to show and make the students feel the beauty of tolerance among religions in the diverse country of Indonesia.
For the two weeks of Religious Fest, everyday after school, the students are divided into small groups of classes to do their religious practices with their assigned teachers.
This festivities ended with the final program and peak celebration. On Monday, April 1st 2024, the students went to school at 11 am, and went home at 8 pm. This nine hours of celebration is filled by religious performances by the students from different classes. It is filled with music, dances, talks, and even theatrical comedy drama. Since it is during the Holy Month of Ramadhan, the students break their fast together, and ate dinner with all their friends across different religions. During this celebration, the students also gave social services to orphans and had dinner at the school. Then, the night ended with Taraweh Prayer together.
These various of activities held by SMA Pembangunan Jaya Sidoarjo, has successfully bring the students closer than ever. During this Religious Fest, the students were really able to feel and view a lot clearer about what living in a nation full of religious diversity truly means.
Editor in Chief : Syakira Azzah K. S.
Journalist : Syakira Azzah K. S.
Editor & Translator : Syakira Azzah K. S.
Photo : Nenggo ‘26
English 
Indonesian
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