East Kalimantan's 'Garuda School' Sharpens Student Research Collaboration

State Senior High School (SMA) 10 Samarinda, designated as a Garuda Transformation School in East Kalimantan Province, is continuing to sharpen its collaborative student research programme to enhance educational competitiveness at both national and global levels. “We are constantly maturing various strengthening programmes such as collaborative research, IELTS enrichment, and interest-based portfolio development so that students are ready to compete,” said SMA Negeri 10 Samarinda Head Ni Made Adnyani on Saturday. The institution’s strengthening programme now employs an interest-based approach, where interested students receive full services while others are directed towards strengthening science and technology fields. In addition to sharpening the collaborative research programme, the school has also begun introducing international standardisation from grade 10 and is working to elevate the learning level to the Cambridge curriculum, which is based on problem-solving and practice. In its first year as a Garuda School in 2025, the Samarinda-based educational institution recorded a positive achievement with 116 letters of acceptance from global universities obtained by 32 students. This string of achievements successfully placed the school fourth nationally in terms of the number of Garuda Scholarship recipients. “The number of Garuda Scholarship recipients from our school this year is six out of approximately 30 students who applied,” said Ni Made Adnyani. Responding to this, Acting Head of the East Kalimantan Education and Culture Office, Armin, expressed appreciation for the achievement, believing it can motivate an overall improvement in education quality across the region.