School cherishes diversity among students of varied nationalities

School cherishes diversity among students of varied nationalities

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's lunchtime at the Gandhi Memorial International School (GMIS)
and students, who are generally able to converse in at least
three languages, sometimes during a single exchange, are heading
to the cafeteria.

Bonding and mixing together around circular tables are Koreans
munching on samosas, Indians eating sushi, Africans chewing on
hamburgers and Indonesians nibbling on crepes.

"We believe in multiculturalism," GMIS principal Ashok Pal
Singh declared proudly in an interview recently. "We want our
students to interact with and respect the different cultures of
the world."

GMIS is one of four schools run by the Gandhi Seva Loka
Foundation in Jakarta, a charitable foundation to promote and
provide quality education. The other three are Mahatma Gandhi
School in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, Gandhi National School in
Ancol, North Jakarta and the Gandhi Institute of Business and
Technology in Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta.

Students pay up to US$500 per month, with 40 percent of
students receiving some form of financial assistance through the
foundation, which can range from a fee reduction to a full
scholarship.

Singh, who has been at the helm of the non-denominational
school for 12 years, said GMIS provided an atmosphere where
differences are cherished and students are expected to be
holistic citizens of the world.

"If you are armed with a good education, you should be able to
get along with everyone in life," said Singh, who oversees about
1,750 students, ranging from preschool to grade 12. The students
consist mainly of Indian expatriates (40 percent), students from
China, Korea and Japan (a total of 35 percent), Indonesians (20
percent) and students from African countries (roughly 5 percent).

The school, which uses an internationally recognized
curriculum and is in its first year of occupying its new
ultrasleek state-of-the-art campus in Kemayoran, North Jakarta,
had not always made diversity a point of high priority.

Singh acknowledged that because of this, GMIS, which has its
roots in a school established in 1950 for the Indian community in
Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, suffered from the false perception
that it was still predominantly catering to Indians.

He said the school had deliberately tried to change this
perception over the years by removing even the slightest hint
that it was promoting Indian culture.

Singh added that he could think of only one predominantly
Indian themed celebration held during the school year; the
celebration to mark the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the school's
namesake, whose educational philosophy of "an all-around drawing
out of the best in child and man ... mind, body and soul"
inspires the school's 180 teachers, some of whom volunteer their
time on Saturdays to help students.

He said if the school celebrated more than that, "we would
lose our multiculturalism".

"We have broken those barriers down and are still making a
conscious effort to keep it that way," said Singh. "We are
different from other international schools, as we have a slight
Asian accent, while at the same time are just as multicultural."

One way the school aims to foster camaraderie and diversity is
by assigning students to one of four houses named for prominent
world visionaries: Kartini, the Indonesian feminist and educator,
Abraham Lincoln, the great American president who abolished
slavery, Rabindranath Tagore, the celebrated Indian poet and
Nobel Laureate, and Leo Tolstoy, the Russian literary
giant.

The housemasters and housemistresses make sure each house has
an equal number of girls and boys, and an acceptable balance of
ethnic backgrounds.

According to Singh, the student body's diversity has "never
become a problem" at the school due to "the beauty of the spirit
of respect" that pervades GMIS.