Adapting to the rules for SPK schools in Indonesia

Dear BIS Community,

This week I would like to review some of the changes which are ongoing in the school in response to the rules governing SPK schools in Indonesia (which is what we are).

For Indonesian citizens, we are must offer three main requirements. Therefore, this year we have made some adjustments in our curriculum/schedule. These are:

1. Indonesian language – we have always offered this option for our students, but now this is compulsory for Indonesian citizens. We have also expanded our course offerings at all levels (primary and secondary) to include Indonesian A (native speakers) as well as Indonesian B (non-native speaker). This allows us to offer Indonesian at the correct level for both Indonesians and non-Indonesian students.

2. Civics – we have also always had this within our primary curriculum in the form of Indonesian studies. All of our primary students take Indonesian studies and have the opportunity to learn more about our host country. In the Secondary School, we now offer civics as a lesson within the Indonesian Language classes (both A and B).

3. Religion – We are currently waiting for the Ministry to identify suitable teachers for us. Once this occurs, we will be offering the 5 recognized religions as subjects within the school for Indonesians. We will also open this to other interested parties who can access the curriculum through the Indonesian language. At this time, the scheduling of the courses is not known. Until such time as we are able to implement this third requirement fully, I would ask all Indonesian parents to please support the school by overseeing your child’s education in this area.

As an additional benefit, our Indonesian students may now also take the national exams. This allows them to have their education within our school recognized and gives them local options for university.

This year, we are beginning the examinations with our Grade 6 students. In preparation for this, an after-school activity specifically for exam preparation has been set up to help the students.

These students will then continue through our school and take the exams in Grades 9 and 12 when they reach those levels. We decided to implement the exam system this way because the Grade 6 class will be the first class to benefit from the additional curriculum requirements and therefore the class which is best prepared for the exams. Our current Grade 9 and Grade 12 students haven’t had the benefit of this curriculum, so we felt that it would be unfair to register them for the exams at this point.

I am very happy to say that, from my perspective, the changes which we have implemented thus far are going well and have been generally well received.

Once the religion teachers are selected / appointed, I will call a meeting of all the Indonesian parents to discuss all the requirements above and the benefits for their children.

Thank you,
Denise Walsh
Head of School