Students find learning made fun at international schools

Students find learning made fun at international schools

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Besides the predominant Caucasian, Indian and non-Indonesian
Asian students, there are also a number of Indonesian students to
be found in the classrooms of the British International School
(BIS) in Bintaro, Tangerang.

"I sent Samantha here as I want her to enjoy school," said
Connie Bakrie on Saturday. Previously, said the 39-year-old
mother, Samantha went to an Indonesian school but was so
overburdened with material that she started cutting classes.

The difference lies in the teaching methods provided in
international schools. "The students here are more involved in
the learning process," she said.

The mother of two was visiting the BIS on Saturday to
participate firsthand in its "Curriculum Day", which was held by
the school to mark its 30th anniversary. During the day, the
parents of the some 600 students attending the school were given
the change to take part in classroom activities.

Vice Principal Frank Znideric said that the event was held to
inform parents about what their children did in class, and to
strengthen the partnership between parents and the school's
management.

"As they (parents) can see, the learning process is really fun
these days, much different from what it was in their time," said
Znideric.

Bakrie said that she understood now why her daughter, who is
in year three, is always eager to go to school. "Even when she's
sick, she still wants to go," said Bakrie.

Jakarta has seen an increasing trend in the number of parents
sending their children to international or national-plus schools,
which have sprung up in many big cities here, where students are
taught through the medium of English.

A student must pay between US$10,000 and $15,000 in tuition
fees per academic year in the BIS, dozens of times more expensive
than the fees charged by Indonesian schools. Nevertheless, some
20 percent of the students in international schools are
Indonesian.

"The curriculum used in Indonesian schools aims too high,"
said Bakrie. "Teachers force students to finish the curriculum,
just for the sake of finishing it.

"Here, teachers monitor the development of the student."

Jakarta plans to apply a competence-based curriculum starting
in academic year 2004/2005. However, Bakrie was skeptical about
the outcome, saying that most teachers here were ill-prepared to
implement such a curriculum.

It is not surprising, then, that well-off parents are opting
for international schools. "We are seeing a steady increase of
between 5 percent and 6 percent per year in the number of our
students," said Znideric. There was a dip following the Bali
bombing, but the situation had returned to normal, he added.