Examining the History of the Kartini School Building in Bogor

BOGOR-TODAY.COM, BOGOR –SMAN 9 Bogor building which is located at Jalan Kartini No. 1, Ciwaringin, Central Bogor District, Bogor City is known to have a long history. In the Dutch colonial era, the building was a Kartini School or a special school for noble women as well as a dormitory for teachers and students.

The building which has two floors includes one of the Cultural Heritage Buildings (BCB) in the city of Bogor which was built in 1914 by KartiniFonds (Kartini Foundation), a foundation formed in 1912 and chaired by Conrad Theodore van Deventer in The Hague, Netherlands.

Initially KartiniFonds founded the Kartini School in Semarang City in 1912, then in Batavia now Jakarta (1914), Buitenzorg or Bogor (1914), Madiun (1914), Malang (1915), Pekalongan (1916) and Cirebon (1914).

Standing on a land area of ​​2,255 square meters, the building still looks to have a classic Dutch-style architecture that makes the Kartini School building look sturdy and beautiful.

The Kartini School in Bogor was first opened on May 2, 1915 in a house on Jalan Panagaran No.19 Bogor, then officially occupied the school building on Jalan Kartini in 1918.

Quoting from De Kartini-scholen voor meisjes: het archief van het Kartini-fonds, 1912-1960, National Archief van Nederland, The Hague, stated that the Kartini School is one of the efforts to create opportunities for upper class Javanese women in the world of education and to realize their dreams. RA Kartini in the emancipation of women.

Kartini School received full support from the Governor General at the time and also Queen Wilhelmina in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Dutch government distributed f23,000 assistance to build Kartini School facilities and infrastructure.

Initially, Kartini School was only intended for the aristocratic group and all the teachers were Dutch women with a two-year study period.

However, as the school developed, Kartini School began to accept students from the middle group and the study period became seven years. Until 1928, even indigenous women could teach and become administrators at the Kartini School.

RA Kartini Triggers Inspiration for Ethical Politics

The existence of the Kartini School was inseparable from the role of Jacques Henri Abendanon, who at that time served as Minister van Onderwijs, Religie en Industrie (Minister of Education, Religion and Industry) of the Dutch East Indies and his wife Rosa Manuela Abendanon Mandri.

Quoted from the Indische Letteren page. Jaargang 5 written by Hanneke Elderhorst-van Hofwegen said that on August 8, 1900, Abendanon visited the regents of Java to conduct surveys and research on education.

Abendanon knows how difficult it is to develop education, especially for women in Java, because there is a conflict with adat, namely when a girl is 12 years old, she has to be secluded.

While visiting the Regent of Jepara, R.M. Adipati Ario Sosroningrat, Abendanon and wife met Kartini and were amazed at the innovations Kartini had made to the spiritual development and education of indigenous women, even though they were kept in seclusion.

Since then Kartini began to communicate through letters to Abendanon and Rosa.

“That day will always be one of the most extraordinary in our lives,” wrote Abendanon after meeting Kartini.

Abendanon and Kartini shared the same view and struggle, namely to convince the Dutch government that improving and expanding education for girls in Java was an absolute necessity.

After Kartini died in 1904 at the age of 25, Abendanon and his wife took the initiative to collect letters sent by Kartini to her pen pals in Europe. These letters were sent to several people with the aim of gaining sympathy, one of whom was Conrad Theodore van Deventer, a legal expert and ethnic political figure in the Netherlands.

It was later this Canventer who became the chairman of the KartiniFonds committee.

A collection of Kartini’s letters was later made into a book by Abendanon entitled “Door Duisternis tot Licht” which means “From Darkness to Light”.

The book received extraordinary enthusiasm from the Dutch community at that time, especially ethical politicians. And donations and sales proceeds are used to fund Kartini School. (*)