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.