Home › Australia
Indonesia Partnership ›The Australia-Indonesia Partnership
- The Australia Indonesia Basic Education Project 2010 - the 2000th
school opening - Balaraja, Banten
The Australia-Indonesia Basic
Education Program (AIBEP) and the
Official Opening of the 2000th
AIBEP school in Indonesia
July 15th, 2010
A lot has
happened with the Australia Indonesia Basic Education Program (AIBEP) since March 6th, 2007, when
the AIBEP school construction program was announced
in Bekasi.
The Australian Minister for Foreign
Affairs attended a school inauguration
ceremony in Bekasi, West Java for the construction
of one of about 2000 junior secondary schools
to be built in Indonesia over the next three years.
The $355 million Australia Indonesia Partnership's
Basic Education Program (AIBEP) will fund the
construction or expansion of schools in 19 Indonesian
provinces.
Up to 1225 schools are expected to
be completed by the end of 2007. The construction
program will create more than 330,000 new junior
secondary school places for 13 to 15 year olds,
targeting children from poor and remote areas.
Students in Balaraja village, Banten, enjoying the opening of their
new school - July 15th, 2010
The 2000th school for Indonesia
from AIBEP
AIBEP's 2000th
school - the official opening on July 15th, 2010
by Indonesia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Dr. Marty Natalegawa and his Australian counterpart,
Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Mr. Stephen Smith, in Balaraja village near Tangerang in
Banten province, a 90 minute drive from
Jakarta.
Preparations for the BIG DAY began many months
before July 15th. The school community in Balaraja,
Tangerang along with the school's students and
teachers, have spent the past year building their
new Madrasah Tsanawiyah
Negeri school with assistance from AIBEP. At last
their school is ready for use, and as from July
16th the school began teaching their new Year
7 students.
On July 15th, the school was officially opened
by Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs and
Trade, Mr. Stephen Smith and his Indonesian counterpart,
Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Marty Natalegawa.
The event began bright and early at 7.30am with
much excitement amongst all gathered there. School
staff and students were there along with hundreds
of community members. Their BIG day had finally
arrived.
This new Madrasah Tsanawiyah
Negeri junior high school has 3 large classrooms, a
laboratory, a library, teachers' room and a toilet block.
The inclusive education school is built to allow children
with physical disabilities to attend so ramps for wheelchairs
can be seen around the school. The staff, students and
community members have worked hard for many months building
and equipping their new school for the children and
for the future generations. The gardens are already
growing well and the school area is neat and tidy -
everyone is so proud of their new school.
from left: Umayah and Aelati
work
in the new library at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Negeri
\
The Australian and Indonesian
governments
have been working together with school
communities to build over 2000 schools
across Indonesia during the past 4 years.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Stephen Smith talks with students in a classroom
at Madrasah Tsanawiyah, Balaraja, the 2000th school
built with Australian development assistance in Indonesia.
Photo: AusAID / Josh Estey
Mr Stephen Smith (second from left) with
students and staff from the school.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Stephen
Smith and Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr Marty Natalegawa
shake hands after signing a plaque to mark the opening of
the 2000th school built in Indonesia with Australia’s support.
The school, Madrasah Tsanawiyah, Balajara near Tangerang, Indonesia, was officially opened on July 15, 2010.
Photo: AusAID / Josh Estey
Excited students with gifts presented
to their school by the visiting Foreign
Minister from Australia.
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Stephen Smith gives a soccer ball as a gift to a student
at Madrasah Balaraja on 15 July 2010. The school, in
Tangerang, was the 2000th built in Indonesia with
Australian development assistance. Photo: AusAID / Josh Estey
Thanks AIBEP!
Balaraja community members watch
as their new SMP school is opened.
Members of AusAID's EducationTeam
together with Ms. Mae Chu Chang from the World
Bank (in pink), and just a few of the students.
AIBEP
2000th school opening video
Would you like to know more about
AIBEP?
Designing Schools with AIBEP
The Australia Indonesian Basic Education Program
(AIBEP) is building 2000 schools in Indonesia. AIBEP
is providing improved and equitable access to basic
education through the construction of these 2000 junior
secondary schools and facilities in the poorest and
most under-served provinces and districts in Indonesia.
In constructing new junior high schools, AIBEP follows
the technical guidelines from the Indonesian Ministry
of National Education. The objectives of this construction
are not only to complement the lack of infrastructures
but also to improve the community role in the program
in planning, implementing and maintaining. The program
construction also improves the capacity of local government
and community to coordinate.
Lombok and SMPN 5 Gerung
In May 2009, Australian Parliamentary Secretary
for International Development Assistance, Mr. McMullan
traveled to Lombok where he inaugurated
a junior secondary school (SMPN 5 Gerung) that was
constructed under the Australia Indonesia Basic Education
Program (AIBEP).
Cheryl Reid, from KGI, visited
a new SMP school being built in Lombok (2007) - read
Cheryl's full report
Our first stop was a new school at Narmada, not
far out of Mataram. SMPN 4 Narmada is at Dasan Terang,
surrounded by rice fields. Its construction is being
funded by AIBEP, in conjunction with the Indonesian
Education Department, with the work done by local contractors
and community members. Although the school is not fully
completed, the students and teachers have moved in as
they think it's important for the year 9 students to
settle in before the national exams. I met some teachers
in the staff room and then went on a tour of the school
with English teacher Pak Andri. We visited a year 8
class taught by physics teacher Ibu Yanti and talked
to some of the other students. They are all obviously
happy to be in their own school at last. Until now they've
been ‘borrowing’ rooms in other schools.
This is the third time they've moved schools and fortunately
it'll be the last time.
AIBEP
New Schools Upadte - December 2007 KGI magazine
Six new BEP schools are being built in Bali. AusAID
Assistant Director General, Mr Alistair Sherwin, and
Australian Consul General to Bali, Mr Bruce Cowled,
joined with national and local officials in a ceremony
in Kintamani on September 14th,to celebrate the opening
of three of the new schools - SMPN 7 Sukawarna, Kintamani,
SMPN 7 Singaraja, and SMPN 4 Bebandem.
