Atlassian Foundation and DFAT Visits Ruangguru in Jakarta
Back in October 2017, Ruangguru carried out a program called Ruangguru digitalbootcamp Packet C (RGDB Packet C) that was supported by The Atlassian Foundation, The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Solve, an initiative of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that focuses on helping 500 high school dropouts to obtain a high school equivalency diploma (Packet C). In May of 2018, the three organizations announced the recipients of the second-round prize funding. Mark Reading, the head of the Atlassian Foundation stated that the second fundings are given to the teams that could execute their plans and show high scalability opportunities in giving benefits to millions of youths. Ruangguru was fortunate enough to be chosen for the second-round funding. Due to this amazing opportunity, Ruangguru was able to continue the second phase of the RGDB Packet C program.
The reason why Atlassian Foundation, DFAT and MIT have teamed up together is to work on a huge goal. This is an interesting mix of big players working together since The Atlassian Foundation focuses on technology, MIT focuses on education while DFAT focuses on foreign policy and more. Regardless of their differences, DFAT is working towards human development outcomes and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals while the Atlassian Foundation aims to help educate 10 million disadvantaged youth for the workforce of the future within 10 years.
On the 8th up until the 10th of April 2019, Simona Achitei, Grants and Program Manager at AECOM (representing DFAT), Melissa Beaumont Lee, Atlassian Foundation Director, and two researchers Scott Rankin and Stephen Parsons flew from Australia to Jakarta to visit the Ruangguru office. The four guests wanted to have firsthand experience of the RGDB Packet C program that has been running for two years now, while also looking at the ongoing partnership between Ruangguru, Atlassian Foundation, and DFAT.
The main agenda of this visit was for Atlassian Foundation and DFAT to understand and see firsthand how Ruangguru operates, what types of problems are Ruangguru trying to address and Ruangguru’s action in attempts to address these issues. Therefore to be able to focus on these objectives the team has organized a packed schedule for them.
They started their visit with a brief introduction on Ruangguru and its services while also conducting a simulation on the Ruangguru application to see how it operates. A discussion was also held on the progress of RGDB Packet C phase 2 while also addressing some challenges the team had encountered during the ongoing program. Since Simona, Melissa, Scott, and Stephen wanted to have firsthand experience of the program the RGDB packet C team decided to schedule a tour to some of the learning centers that are participating in the program. The first learning center they visited was Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat (PKBM) Negeri 22, Where the four guests alongside the RGDB packet C team conducted one-on-one interviews with the head of the learning center, teachers and students to better understand their point of views, concerns, and experiences with the program. Overall their responses we positive, they enjoyed participating in the programs although there was some feedback on the operational aspect of the program.
The following day the team went and visited another learning center, PKBM Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB) Duri Kepa and also Pusat Pelatihan dan Pengembangan Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini (P3PAUD) DKI Jakarta where the team attended a meeting with government officials and were able to understand the context and concerns of Packet C students from the government’s point of view. That evening Melissa, Scott, and Stephen also had the chance to meet and get to know Fatikhah, Siswo, and Nurul who were alumni’s from the first RGDB Packet C program. Fatikhah and Siswo are currently finishing their degree in university while Nurul is currently working as a freelancer with Ruangguru. Melissa, Scott, and Stephen were very happy to be able to hear all the different stories of the students, teachers, head of the learning centers, and even government officials because they really could see and hear how the RGDB Packet C project is performing and how it is affecting all the people involved and the community.
Overall this visit was a success! Simona, Melissa, Scott, and Stephen are very pleased with the progress of the program thus far, they are also impressed with the Ruangguru application. Melissa was actually on her way back to the Ruangguru office from running an errand when her taxi driver revealed that his 10-year-old daughter is using the Ruangguru application to study and that he wants his son to use the application too since his daughter enjoys it so much.
“Ruangguru is at the top of the game — world class product, even better than what we’ve got in Australia,” she stated.
By coming to Jakarta the four guests could see firsthand the urgency of the issues regarding the packet C students that needed to be addressed while also seeing Ruangguru’s approach towards these obstacles and observing the effects that the RGDB packet C program has on the students in the learning centers and also alumni’s from the RGDB packet C program the year prior.
“We don’t just make products, we don’t just sell products. We want our products to be useful” said Iman Usman, Chief of Product and Partnership Officer (CPO) and co-founder of Ruangguru.
Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled in Ruangguru’s medium page to make sure you are up to date with the progress of the RGDB packet C program and various other programs, projects, and stories by Ruangguru.
