New Japanese school opened in Tangerang

New Japanese school opened in Tangerang

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): Minister of Education and Culture
Wardiman Djojonegoro opened the Jakarta Japanese School yesterday
in Pondok Aren.

Japanese expatriates do not need to worry about their
children's education anymore when they are assigned to Indonesia,
the minister and Japanese ambassador Taizo Watanabe said.

The Japanese school is one way to provide international school
services to ensure that expatriates' children acquire the same
standard of education as at home, Wardiman said.

Japanese students here can also be free from worry, Wardiman
said.

"It is for these essential reasons that the Government has
always lent its full support to the concept of international
schools for the expatriate community," he said.

The school, with a 6,820-square-meter sports field, is in the
Bintaro Jaya housing complex, where the British International
School is also located.

The Japanese school has 1,265 students following kindergarten,
elementary school and junior high school classes.

Students sang Japanese and Indonesian songs at yesterday's
ceremony, which ended with a dynamic traditional dance, the
Saman, from Aceh.

The rapid dance featuring junior high school students was
"very good," a visitor from Aceh said.

The Japanese school was moved from its former site in Pasar
Minggu, South Jakarta, in April.

It was founded in 1969 with 11 students in a rented house in
Tebet, South Jakarta.

PT Jaya Obayashi began building the new school in 1994 which
was designed by Pacific Consultants International.

The three-story school, run by the Jakarta Japanese School
Maintenance Foundation, has two swimming schools, two gymnasiums
and four music rooms. There are also two "discussion rooms,"
halls and meeting rooms.

A small amphitheater, with a map of Indonesia as its focal
point, is in the playground.

Wardiman and Watanabe praised the school for exposing its
students to Indonesia through Indonesian language sessions and
cultural exchanges with local students.

"As you have been taught in school, Japan plays an important
role in the world. For this reason we must promote good relations
with other countries, particularly in Asia," Watanabe said.

Cultural exchanges involving the Japanese students "make me
very happy," Watanabe said.

The exchanges included a camping trip in September with
students of the private Al Azhar Islamic school. This was where
the Japanese students first saw the Saman dance.

"My body was aching all over when we first practiced it," one
of the dancers, Mai Tokusa, said.

Watanabe told the students he hoped their school years in
Indonesia would give them an important memory of an experience
which they could not get in Japan.

Keita Ono, the head of the students' organization, said the
students were "proud" of their responsibility to help preserve
good relations between Japan and their host country.

Tangerang regent Saifullah Abdulrachman said the good
international schools in the regency would "hopefully drive us to
build better schools for our children." (anr)