Character building through boarding school for inland and outermost student: A grounded theory approach

Kosmas Sobon^1*Herwin Herwin¹Johanis Ohoitimur²Kus E. Eddy Sartono¹Mukhamad Murdiono¹

• ¹Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
• ²Sekolah Tinggi Filsafat Seminari Pineleng, Minahasa, Indonesia

Many children who live in the interior and mountainous areas of Papua-Indonesia do not get the right of education. This research aims to formulate a theoretical concept of boarding schoolbased character education by implementing Papuan cultural contextual education in the process of education. The method used is a qualitative method with a grounded theory approach. The research participants were 14 people. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and textual analysis of the interview results. The data analysis technique uses the Atlas.ti application by using three levels of coding: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The research results show that there are six main concepts as a model of boarding school character education: personal development, spiritual development, extracurricular activities, clean and healthy lifestyles, learning from inspirational figures, and academic development. These six theoretical concepts can be divided into internal and external character building. One of the uniqueness of character education is the integration of local cultural values in the whole process of character education of the children, both in the school environment and in the dormitory. The results of the study provide insights for educators, schools, and government on different forms of character education models. Keywords: boarding school, character education, local wisdom, inland students, personal developmentCharacter education is a learning process that aims to shape the moral values, ethics, and personality of learners through teaching and real experiences. This education plays an important role in shaping students' personalities and building their morality in the school environment. In the context of Indonesian society, especially in the Papua region where social conflicts often occur (Ismail, 2023;Sanra et al., 2023;Scott & Tebay, 2005), character education in schools is important and urgent to teach mutual respect and non-violent problem solving from an early age. In addition, Indonesian society has many cultural values, languages, customs and traditions (Mailin et al., 2023;Asfina & Ovilia, 2017), so character education in schools helps preserve local wisdom to build the morals of the younger generation.