Pelita Harapan school denies internal dispute

Pelita Harapan school denies internal dispute

TANGERANG (JP): Foreign teachers and the management of the year old elite school Sekolah Pelita Harapan have denied local newspaper reports that there is a rift between them.

"That's not true. I just wonder what are they (the newspapers) up to by publishing such false reports," Johannes Oentoro, chairman of Yayasan Pendidikan Pelita Harapan (YPPH) foundation, which runs the school, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Two of the school's foreign teachers met by the Post on a separate occasion yesterday also gave similar responses when asked about the reports, saying that they (the reports) are totally groundless.

Last week, a number of local newspapers reported on their front pages that most of the foreign educators employed at the school had been cheated by the owners. Quoting unidentified sources, the reports stated that the school operators had reneged on agreements they had made with the teachers.

Allegedly the management failed to provide the teachers with proper houses to live in as promised by the school's owners. The reports also alleged that at present, a number of the expatriates are occupying a rented house in Jakarta which is not up to expatriate standards.

This was said to have forced a total of 25 teachers, mostly from the United States, to ask the school's organizers to send them back to their respective countries.

Derek White, 28, an English and Chemistry teacher from Massachusetts, who is going to leave for the United States at the end of this month, said: "I have nothing to complain about and my plan to go back to my country is simply because I want to meet my girlfriend and continue my schooling there."

He said he might return here one day to teach at the new University of Pelita Harapan (UPH), which is also overseen by the YPPH foundation of the widely-diversified Lippo Group.

David Law, 28, an English and History teacher from Virginia, who is going to spend another year at the school, admitted, however, that at first he and fellow foreign teachers came across minor problems.

"In the beginning, we found problems, such as an electricity black-out and a shortage of water at a house the management rented for us, but things have improved a lot as now we feel comfortable here," Law said.

Cultural shock

White added: "Earlier, there were lots of misunderstandings but we recognized them later as part of living overseas."

"We're just getting a cultural shock," Law said.

Robert RR Rampen, a senior executive secretary at the school, earlier said: "I don't know the motives behind these made-up and mendacious stories. The reports are totally wrong and groundless especially since they only quoted unidentified sources."

He acknowledged that some reporters had interviewed him but had intentionally or unintentionally misquoted him, distorting all the facts he had given them during the interview.

"I told them A, but they wrote C," Robert bitterly complained.

Yohannes said that all internal problems at the school are usually discussed during the monthly meeting of the school's Parents-Teachers Association.

"If the reports were true, members of the association would have reprimanded me," he said.

Robert added that they are working as a unit,"So if teachers, or the other staff members at this institution have problems, their problems would become ours, too."

The Sekolah Pelita Harapan was built at a total cost of US$10 million. It is located on a 10-hectare plot of land in the compound of the sprawling, exclusive 500-hectare Lippo Village real estate project on Jl. Legok Raya in Karawaci district, Tangerang.

Currently, with around 300 students attending classes from pre-kindergarten up to university levels, the international school is equipped with a swimming pool, fine arts center, library, well-equipped science labs, computer terminals and sports facilities.

At the moment the school has a total of 70 teachers, including 15 expatriates (not 25 as suggested by the reports), seven of whom are going to leave the school this month.

But at least 30 more foreign teachers, mostly Americans, are scheduled to arrive here soon, said James O. Rawlins, the school's English advisor. (bsr)