Lab School holds its annual int'l festival

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of students from Jakarta's international schools celebrated yesterday in festivities at the Lab School in East Jakarta.

The annual event was held by the private-run School owned by the Jakarta Teachers Training and Education Institute in the Rawamangun subdistrict, Pulogadung.

The students enjoyed participating in dances, songs and costume shows.

The celebration has been a regular extracurricular activity of the Lab School International Students Association (LISA) for eight years.

A stage was built in the schoolyard, decorated with flags from 32 countries and flanked by two ondel-ondel (traditional Betawi giant puppets usually used in street parades).

The gathering, labeled "Love, Peace and World Harmony", featured a Korean fan dance, a Pakistani stick dance and star dance, and Indian songs.

Most participants were students from international schools in Jakarta, like the Pakistan International School, the Ghandi Memorial International School, and Jakarta International School. Many parents also came.

Foreign students studying at local schools arranged by the Indonesian Foundation for Intercultural Learning contributed songs.

"Such activities enable students of diverse cultural backgrounds to know each other," said Indonesian ambassador-at- large, Nana Sutrisna, who opened the festivities.

Among the spectators were Palestinian envoy Rihbi Awad and Papua New Guinea envoy Paul Dala.

Lab School principal Arief Rachman said the activities would help foster a tolerant attitude to cultural differences among students.

"LISA's activities are meant to give the students a broader horizon by knowing other countries' cultures and their problems in the international milieu," Arief said.

Japanese Yuzo Komidori, 17, who is a second grader at a state- owned senior high school, said he enjoyed singing popular dangdut songs.

"I'm having a lot of fun," Komidori said.

The costume show featured couples wearing traditional clothing from Saudi Arabia, Japan, Pakistan, India, China, Korea and Indonesia.

The Lab School was set up in 1968 to experiment in new education methods encouraging comparatively more interaction between students and teachers than conventional schools.

Arief said the school aimed to create a balanced education program, "to form good character and personality for Indonesian students." (07)