Parents do homework on affordable in int'l schools
Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Donna Dharma's face beamed with pride Wednesday when the master of ceremonies at the Taman Rama Primary School in Denpasar, Bali, called her 12-year-old son Christopher on stage.
Christopher, wearing a black graduation gown and mortarboard, walked on to the stage in the school's badminton hall to receive a certificate after passing his Cambridge International Primary Program exams.
The Indonesian-Australian was among 25 sixth graders to pass the National Plus school's first-ever Cambridge International Primary Program, an international-standard program for primary and secondary school students.
Dharma, 38, an Australian citizen married to an Indonesian, has been residing in Bali for the last six years.
"I have lived six years in Bali and our children's education was among our main concerns," she said.
"Education is very important and finding a school that has an international standard which is also affordable was an issue for us at first," she said.
The number of expatriates living in Bali is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, although the Bali Labor Agency recorded the figure to be 1,385 last year. Bali's expatriate community is mostly concentrated along the southern coastline from Sanur to Seminyak, as well as in the center of the island in places such as Ubud.
The presence of a large international community in Bali means there is a great demand for schools providing international-standard education.
"Christopher started school in Australia. We want him to at least have the same quality of education that he had in Australia, with an English curriculum," Donna said.
In Bali, local public schools are inexpensive, relatively speaking. For primary school, students pay no tuition fees. However, the curriculum is not based on international standards, which is what most expatriates seek for their children.
Kumara Mirna, 33, an Indonesian citizen married to an Australian, said she and her husband had been worrying about what kind of education they would provide for their one year old child.
"We were worried, because we want our child to have an education that complies with the standard of developed countries," she said.
"Seeing that Bali has a lot of international schools, I think high standard education facilities are available on this island."
Bali has a number of National Plus schools, including Taman Rama and Sekolah Dyatmika. International schools, such as Bali International School, Ecole Internationale Francaise de Bali and the Canggu Community School, also operate on the island.
Bali International School secretary Lea Widiarti said there was no reason for expatriates to worry about the quality of education their children could receive in Bali.
"There are good international schools in Bali. Bali International School itself was established 21 years ago. Our graduates are spread all over the world in various universities" she said.
However, despite the abundance of international schools on the island, one problem remains - they are very expensive.
Bali International School's tuition fees range from around US$4,000 per year for pre-schoolers to around $10,000 annually for 12th graders.
Lea said the reason for such high fees was that international-standard schools required a great deal of resources.
"We have to provide adequate facilities for students such as complete collections of books in libraries and other facilities to meet the standards. We have to finance that," she said.
The director of the Cambridge International Primary Program at Taman Rama Primary School, Michael McBrien, said the school adopted the program to provide those living in Bali with greater access to an international-standard education.