Focus Issue: Sunday - August 24, 2003

Focus Issue: Sunday - August 24, 2003

Global Jaya School teaches students how to think

"Indonesia is yet to be prosperous... but I love it." Is part of a poem that was written to commemorate the 58th Indonesian Independence Day. The writer is not a professional poet, nor one who is experiencing the pinch of the prolonged economic crisis, but an elementary student of the elite Global Jaya School.

Which is quite astonishing as children of this age, who are brought up in relatively well-to-do families, tend to write about the beauty of the country or how nice the people are. "We are teaching students to think," Executive Principal Kenneth J. Cock said. Adapting a Western philosophy, the school teaches students to be active, creative and not afraid to speak their minds. The close interaction of teachers with students is made possible by the small class sizes, with a maximum number of 24 students in a class. Global Jaya School (www.globaljaya.com) was established by Yayasan Pendidikan Jaya in 1995. Initially there was only a kindergarten and elementary school, but a junior high was established in 1996 and senior high in 1998. The school is located on a spacious six-hectare plot of land in Bintaro, Pondok Aren, Tangerang. However, only 20 percent of the students live in Bintaro, the rest come from other parts of the city. About 660 students, mostly Indonesians, are currently studying at the school. It has a staff of 100, including 25 expatriates. The lessons are conducted in English and Bahasa Indonesia. "Some of our students are Indonesians who have just returned from abroad and they don't speak Bahasa Indonesia. For them, we provide special catch-up lessons," Cock said. The school, which has been awarded both National Accreditation from the government and International Accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, also offers the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) program to those who want to continue their study overseas. Even though the students are taught in a western manner, the school adopts the national curriculum. "We don't want to devalue the Indonesian curriculum," Cock said. He added that the school also teaches the students to value the diversity of Indonesia and to respect the traditional arts and culture. Community service -- including visiting other schools, such as a school for deaf children -- is regularly conducted, helping students to be aware of their immediate environment and sensitive to the welfare of others. The school -- which recently organized a tour of the traditional Kampung Naga hamlet in West Java -- offers a great variety of extra curricular activities such as swimming, art, music, vocational programs, problem solving, and even ballet. But the world experienced by today's youth is not always carefree. And the school takes the precaution of offering a self development program, which covers drug prevention, pubertal change and relationship education, for the junior high students, with random drug testing to maintain Global Jaya as a drug free school. Sex education is provided for students, starting from the sixth grade of elementary school. "Our best achievement is that we are recognized across Indonesia as a forward thinking school... Most of our students are successful," Cock proudly said.