Korean school struggles to uphold home values

Korean school struggles to uphold home values

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When Korean companies operating in the city established the
Jakarta International Korean School (JIKS) in 1976, it had only
26 students. Twenty nine years later, however, the school has
become the biggest South Korean school overseas.

According to principal Kim Jeong Il, the school, located in
Ceger subdistrict, East Jakarta, was set up to prepare students,
mostly the children of South Korean businessmen in Indonesia, for
globalization.

"Our main purpose is to convey the Korean culture, while still
enjoying the multicultural environment of Indonesia and other
countries," Kim said, adding: "We want our students to be able to
adapt to different cultures upon graduation."

With 1,450 students, Kim said JIKS has become the largest
Korean school outside South Korea.

As a Korean school, it employs the South Korean education
system.

"Many Koreans come to Jakarta for employment and bring their
kids along with them," he said.

With that purpose in mind, the school provides educational
benefits for Korean children in Indonesia as they can learn about
their own culture and others, and learn English intensively.

The school, according to Kim, emphasizes the proper use of
English in small classes in which subjects such as cooking,
drama, football and storytelling, are taught.

"We also have a teacher partnership program in which a Korean
teacher is teamed up with a native English teacher in the
classroom. This enables students to grasp the cultural side of
the English language and learn more about the country that the
native instructor comes from," said Sung Sook Lee, a Korean-born
English teacher at the school.

According to Kim, such programs are important in fulfilling
the school's vision.

"We want our students to be able to grow up in a multicultural
environment, therefore, we employ native teachers to teach the
Indonesian language and English and Koreans to teach other
subjects, including Indonesian history," he said.

"The school's curriculum is a combination of Korean and
international practices," he said, "ranging from English, math,
social studies, science, music, and sport, among other subjects."

"Some of the main challenges that the school faces," he said,
"include information technology as the internet connection in
Indonesia is very slow, compared to Korea's."

Transportation, public facilities and security were other
issues that needed to be tackled by the school's community, he
said.

Due to the series of bombings, and bomb threats, in Jakarta
over the last few years, the school was forced to beef up their
security by employing more security guards and operating tougher
security inspections to ensure the safety of students and
teachers.

In line with the school's multicultural vision, Kim said he
hoped the students would be able to build links with students
from Indonesian schools to create a mutually beneficial
environment for both parties.

"I hope that someday, probably in 10 years' time, we will
reach that point, where students and teachers help each other for
the sake of educational benefits for the two countries," he said.

The school received a license from the Indonesian government,
as an international school for kindergarten, primary and middle
high school courses in 1990.