JAKARTA: Ten years ago, Indonesia set up international standard schools with the aim of producing globally-competitive students.
But some say the project was a failure... and the Constitutional Court has recently called for the schools to be disbanded, as they are now considered to be discriminatory.
Students in one of the classes are learning Chemistry... not in Bahasa Indonesia, but in English.
This is one out of over 1,300 public schools nationwide that run classes following international standards.
The project that began in 2003 was meant to groom Indonesian students to compete globally.
Besides the national curriculum, schools employ internationally-recognised curricula and set higher standards for student enrolment and teacher qualification.
Anwar Farid, Vice Principal of SMA 68 High School, said: "The standards set in the programme motivate teachers to get a Masters degree and reach a certain TOEFL score of English proficiency. It motivates teachers to reach a higher standard. The applied curriculum combines the national curriculum and the Cambridge curriculum. This enhances teachers' and students' knowledge."
In international standard classes, Science, Math, Chemistry, Physics and Biology are mostly taught in English.
Adam Abdullah, an SMA 68 high school student, said: "This is a globalisation era, we need to speak English everywhere, even in our own country."
But a recent Constitutional Court ruling will put an end to these international standard schools, as they are now considered to be unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Febri Hendri, Public Service Monitoring Division, Indonesia Corruption Watch, said: "International standard schools provoke discrimination against other schools and within the community. Discrimination comes from the government giving privilege and much financial assistance to international standard schools."
International Standard Schools or RSBI school get a block grant from the government ranging from US$20,000 to US$50,000 a year for the first three years.
They are also allowed to charge higher school fees - US$2,500 a year - that includes Cambridge curriculum books and annual exams.
Students at regular or "normal track" public schools don't have to pay any school fees.
Ridha Tobing, a SMA 68 high school student, said: "There are also bad things about maintaining this RSBI. It's making different social gaps in terms of our SMA 68 school and other schools that are non-RSBI schools. It makes us look better, more educated, and more skilful."
The Education and Culture Minister is devising a new plan to keep some of the programmes under the international standard school plan but didn't clarify how he'll be able to keep English as the primary language of instruction as it is now deemed illegal.
The Constitutional Court Chief Justice said the Ministry has until April to decide the status of the schools, but will allow international standard schools to operate normally until the end of the school year in June.
- CNA/de
International standard schools face shutdown after Indonesia court ruling
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International standard schools face shutdown after Indonesia court ruling
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International standard schools face shutdown after Indonesia court ruling
