The Teacher’s Day is an important day to remember the good deeds of the teachers and to show our appreciation towards them. Countries around the world celebrate this special day, including Indonesia. In Indonesia, we celebrate Teacher’s Day on 25 November. On that day, the students, teachers, and headmasters usually celebrate it by having a ceremony. After all, in Indonesia we have a high regard to teachers as the unsung heroes. It is only a small show of gratitude to honor them compared to all of their deeds and knowledge that they give.
In Biak Numfor Regency, Papua Province, on November 2016, they are celebrating Teacher’s Day in Papua by giving flowers and dolls to the teachers. After the ceremony, the students from 3 Public Junior High schools gave flowers and dolls to all of their teachers. According to one of the student, Ester, the flowers and dolls are their symbol of gratitude for the teachers’ dedication in educating the future generation. The celebration of Teacher’s Day in Papua in these 3 Public Junior High are also unique, because the flag ceremony that are usually being carried out by the students, in this day, will be carried out by the teachers.
In the border area between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Skow, the Indonesia National Armed Forces celebrate the Teacher’s Day in Papua with the teachers and student from the local community. They invited the teachers to celebrate Teacher’s Day in Papua as a symbol of their appreciation for all of the teachers’ dedication toward building the future generation. According to them, the teachers in the border areas are the front line of the Papuan education and they have a huge role in education of the children of Papua.
“We are giving our biggest appreciation to all of the teachers that have devoted their life in educating the children that lives in the border area. They do not care about the difficult access, nor the challenging distance and security. They are still diligently educate the children who live in the border area. Therefore, we give our appreciation to the teachers. We hope that they can keep their spirit up in educating these children,” said the Task Force Commander RI-PNG, Lt. Col. Kohir, cited from Okezone.
Teacher’s Day in Papua is celebrated widely by the Papuan people. The above mentioned celebrations are some of the examples of Teacher’s Day celebration in Papua. Those celebrations are the sign of the appreciation of the Papuan people toward the teachers and all of their dedication toward education.