Even though the world is dark, Hendra is able to illuminate the world of education

When met while teaching in his class, Hendra utilized a number of digital facilities to make it easier to communicate with students. There is a special laptop and cellphone that he uses.

"Currently his status is still as an honorary teacher. This year I registered for PPPK, I have passed the administration. Hopefully I can be accepted as an ASN," said Hendra.

Hendra's journey to get to this point was not an easy thing. Hendra is the first child of 4 siblings. He was born in Tasikmalaya 32 years ago. Since childhood, his parents have taken Hendra for treatment here and there.

"Every family definitely wants their child to be normal. So at that time I went for treatment several times, but it turned out that God wanted me to still be blind," he said.

Finally, he went to school at SLBN A Bandung City until junior high school. It was there that he felt he had new motivation and enthusiasm to continue fighting.

"At first I felt alone, I had no friends. But after joining SLB, it motivated me to be enthusiastic about fighting, especially in the world of education," he said.

After graduating, Hendra continued his education at SMAN 7 Bandung. Then after graduating from high school, he had the opportunity to study at UPI majoring in Indonesian Language and Literature Education.

"Thank God, now I can join as a teacher at SMPN 4 Bandung. I am the only family member who has a disability. However, I am also the only one in the family who can go to school until he graduates," said Hendra.

As a blind person, Hendra has the dream of breaking the discourse and paradigm towards disabled people, especially in the city of Bandung. He wants people with disabilities to be empowered and equal in an inclusive society.

"In the past few years, disability was not widely believed in. However, now we can be given the opportunity to contribute to our respective worlds, like me in the world of education," he explained.

In the old paradigm, teachers with disabilities could only teach children with special needs (ABK). So, Hendra experienced a period where he often received rejection from various schools to teach.

"In the past, I had applied to several schools. I had also been rejected many times to become a teacher. However, thank God, I continued to struggle going door to door to schools, and finally I was able to join SMPN 4 Bandung," he recalled.

The opportunity given by the principal ultimately enabled Hendra to contribute to SMPN 4 Bandung to build the world of education.

This is where he experienced the ups and downs of being a teacher with the blind. Initially Hendra had difficulty interacting with students. However, he used these limitations as motivation.

For him, a normal person can find a solution by walking, but if he does, he has to run. Even though you have to work harder in preparing the material. But he is grateful to have reached this point.

"Perhaps at first the students here were confused. Normally it was normal teachers who came in, but how come it was me. However, as time went on, everything melted away," he admitted.

He said that the difficulty in easing the atmosphere was actually easy to overcome with a humanist approach. Therefore, Hendra tries to recognize each student through their own voices.

"I teach in two classes with a total of 70 students. Not only do I get to know various voices, but also the children's characters," he admitted.

He hopes that he will not only be able to produce students who are intelligent, but also have strong character, mental steel and moral intelligence. Because according to him, if students already have moral intelligence, other intelligences will follow.

"With the limitations that I have, I will continue to struggle to educate the minds, morals and build the character of the nation's children," he explained.

One of the students in Class 9J of SMPN 4 Bandung, Hafiz, admitted that he enjoyed being taught by Hendra. Usually the assignments given by Hendra are in PDF or Word form.

For him, Hendra is a contemporary teacher because he can teach using digital. So that it is able to keep up with children and is in line with the latest era.

"When it's finished, it will be sent straight to Mr. Hendra. Mr. Hendra is very quick to check our assignments. That makes me enthusiastic about doing assignments," said Hafiz.

A similar opinion was also expressed by the Principal of SMPN 4 Bandung, Asep Nuryana. Even though he was worried when he accepted Hendra as a teacher, he was confident that Hendra would be able to advance the students at SMPN 4 Bandung.

"At first there were concerns, but after that I was convinced that Mr. Hendra was a figure who could equalize his rights, could make the students at SMPN 4 Bandung smarter," said Asep.

He added that Hendra could prove that he was capable and equal to other teachers. Because Hendra can not only teach, but also has other talents such as in the fields of art, religion, and can provide more inspiration for students.

"He can prove that people with disabilities are capable of working, becoming a teacher in a public school. He was able to attend a public high school and study at UPI. This proves his hard work and never giving up efforts," he said.

Asep admitted that this was not an easy struggle for Hendra. So, for him, on Heroes' Day, Hendra is one of the heroes who has made a contribution to the world of education.

"Pak Hendra is also an educational hero who eradicated ignorance and a fighter for his family in earning a living despite his limitations," added Asep. (din)**

Head of the Bandung City Communication and Information Office

Yayan A. Brilyana