Bandung German School, a true survivor

Bandung German School, a true survivor

By Yuli Sri Suwarni

BANDUNG (JP): It was about midday last Tuesday. Six children
of between four and five were busy playing with sand at a
four-by-four meter mud hole in front of building number 12.

A one-meter-high hedge shields them from the hectic traffic
passing along Jl. Kyai Gede Utama, where the building is located.

At a glance, the building is just an ordinary house with a
lawn in front. Next to the building is an iron swing painted in
bright colors, wooden playground furniture, and a thick rope
hanging from a tree.

On that afternoon, one little boy was seen trying a
his best to swing by tightly clutching the rope.

Compared to the other big buildings on that block in the leafy
suburbs of North Bandung, the house is nothing special.

But judging from the clay-made roof tile, it's obviously that
the building is an aging one.

It is believed that the property once belonged to a Dutch
family before it was converted to a boarding house for students
and later a school in 1956.

With the family- and kids-friendly atmosphere, as was
witnessed on that one Tuesday afternoon, many people, including
locals, have no idea that the U-shaped building is a German
school called the Deustche Schule Bandung (DSB).

Get closer to the children who are playing while waiting for
their mums or drivers and you will hear them chatting in a
mixture of Bahasa Indonesia and German.

Former glory

Established in January 1956, the DSB is believed to be among
the first international schools, that is to say, a school for the
children of expatriates and foreign diplomats, in this country.

Unfortunately, no details of its history are available.

A brief history was written in German in a year book published
by the school six years ago.

Based on the information available, DSB principal Angela
Tanudjaya revealed that the school was founded by a number of
German nationals who were working in Bandung at that time.

One of the founders of the German School, Angela said, was
Professor Holz, a former lecturer at Bandung's Padjajaran
University.

The German families believed that they would only temporarily
live in Indonesia and, so, wanted their children to study at a
school which had a German curriculum, she explained.

"They didn't want their kids to face difficulties once they
had to continue their studies in Germany. That's why they wanted
to build a school which had an atmosphere and curriculum similar
to those in their homeland," Angela told The Jakarta Post on that
Tuesday.

According to Rita Widagdo, chairperson of Yayasan DSB, the
foundation which now runs the school, many Germans were working
in the pharmaceutical companies which had just opened their
branches in Indonesia at the time.

They followed the Dutch who had made Bandung the center of
their business activities. Like the Dutch, they picked Bandung
mainly because of its fresh and cool climate.

At the beginning, Rita said, the school was located on Jl.
Martadinata, which is now the site of the Goethe Institute while
the building on Jl. Kyai Gede Utama was used as a boarding house
for the students, whose parents -- mostly German, Austrian and
Swiss -- had their offices outside Bandung, such as in Jakarta,
Bogor and Karawang.

"Diplomats at the German Embassy in Jakarta also sent all
their children to study here. The air in Jakarta was too hot and
not good for their kids. In the old days, only a few houses were
equipped with air conditioners and (Jakarta) had no so many trees
as today," she explained.

"The fresh air of Bandung was very good for the children to
study. Besides that, this school was famous for its quality ...
There's no story that our students ever had problems in
continuing their studies back in Germany," Rita went on.

Eight months after its establishment, the Indonesian
government officially acknowledged the status of the school as a
foundation.

In just a short time, educational life started to take of at
the school. The German government assisted by subsidizing the
school while school fees paid by the students' parents helped to
cover the operational costs of the school.

The German tradition also began enlivening the school's
activities. Every year, until today, the school celebrates at
least three major German traditional events, Christmas, Carnival
and Oktoberfest (the October festival).

During Oktoberfest, for example, the students, and the
teachers as well, performed a series of dances and served up
traditional German food.

"It was really alive. Every year, we had SMP (junior high
school) graduates. A representative from the German education
ministry came especially to Indonesia just to give approval to
the examination certificates, with someone from the embassy
coming along as a witness," Rita said, referring to the golden
days of the DSB.

Some teachers were flown in from Germany, while others
included German nationals who lived in bandung and had teaching
qualifications.

Rita, who like Angela is a German national married to an
Indonesian, taught drawing at the DSB for one year in 1966. At
that time, the school had 35 students studying in three different
grades, namely kindergarten, grundschule (elementary school) and
sekundarstufe I (high school).

The golden era of the Deustche Schule Bandung lasted only for
10 years, and in 1966 the German Embassy decided to move the
school to the capital Jakarta fro one major reason: many big
companies had opened their offices there.

"Bandung was apparently suitable only for studying and
lifestyle, but was not profitable for business-oriented
activities," Rita recalled.

At first, parents of all the 35 students disagreed with the
plan. But the Embassy refused to listen to their pleas. In
October 1967, the Embassy opened a new German school in Jakarta.

Instead of closing down, the Bandung school continued going.
In July 1968, the school still managed to witness the graduation
of 22 students.

For unclear reasons, two months later the German government
stopped giving a subsidy to the DSB and allocated it instead to
the new school in Jakarta. All of the teachers were brought to
Jakarta. Then a traumatic event took place on the history of the
DSB: It was temporarily closed!

"Honestly, we were hurt because the number of students dropped
drastically," said Rita, a lecturer in the School of Arts and
Design at the Bandung Institute of Technology.

The boarding school was also closed.

At the request of German families still living in Bandung and
with the help of nuns volunteering as teachers, the school opened
up shop again in October 1969 with only 12 students.

For efficiency's sake, the school was moved to the boarding
school premises, while the building on Jl. Martadinata was handed
over to the Goethe Institute.

According to Angela, those were difficult days as the school
was heavily dependent on school fees to cover its costs while the
number of students was relatively low.

In 1972, she recalled, the school only had one class and one
teacher.

"Our foundation had to be smart enough to put aside part of
the school fees. That's how we were able to survive," said
Angela.

The foundation, for instance, reduced the number of teachers
when the money began to dry up, she said.

Obviously, the school's lean days are not yet over.

"This semester alone, two of our teachers have flown back to
their homelands due to the low number of classes. We have no
choice but to handle the cash carefully," Angela said.

But the school, she added, insisted on maintaining its
quality.

"There must be no subjects neglected from the German set
curriculum. Every year, we upgrade our books, which we order
directly from Germany, of course, through sea cargo for cost-
saving reasons," she continued.

Actually, the German government still maintains contacts with
the school and sometimes donates books.

The school itself often raises funds for the purchase of
school equipment through its Oktoberfest.

In general, the school is trying hard to survive. The
curriculum employs the standards set by the German state of
Nordrhien-Westfalen. All subjects are taught in German. Bahasa
Indonesia is given to students starting from Grade 3, English
from kindergarten and French from Grade 5.

In accordance with government regulations, the school limits
the number of local students to only 20 children.

"Most of the students here are being prepared by their parents
to continue their studies later in Germany, which offers a high
quality and free education," Rita said.

The DSB has changed its logo many times. Once, it used Semar
(chief of the servants of Pandawas in the Wayang story) before it
picked up popular German cartoon characters Max and Moritz. Now
it has two lizards along with the German and Indonesian flags as
its logo.

The small number of students attending the DSB is viewed in
different ways by the students.

Denny A., a Grade 5 student in 1995, once wrote in the school
book: "It's better to have a small class because we can directly
talk after we put our hand up."

But Angela worries that classes with a small number of
students, which have become a new trend in many private schools,
will lead to the children being unable to socialize properly.

To avoid this problem, the DSB regularly invites other
international schools in Bandung to take part in DSB activities,
such as sports and cookery competitions.

Like many other teachers in and operators of international
schools, Rita, Angela and the other DSB teachers hope that
Indonesia, politically and economically, will recover soon in
order to lure more foreign investors to the country.