The Australia Indonesia Basic Education Program (AIBEP)

Kintamani, Bali - September 14th, 2007

Australia Funds Six New Secondary Schools in Bali

Australia is funding the construction of six new schools in Bali, as part of a partnership with Indonesia to raise the standard of basic education across the country.

AusAID Assistant Director General, Mr Alistair Sherwin, and Australian Consul General to Bali, Mr Bruce Cowled join with national & local officials in a ceremony today in Kintamani to celebrate the opening of three new schools in Bali.

The three new junior secondary schools that were inaugurated are SMPN 7 Sukawarna, Kintamani, SMPN 7 Singaraja, and SMPN 4 Bebandem.

Mr Sherwin said the new schools were part of the Rp2,5 trillion Australian Government program to build or expand 2,000 schools in Indonesia, across 20 provinces, from 2006-2009.

“Up to 1,225 of these schools are expected to be completed by early 2008,” Mr Sherwin said during the inauguration ceremony at SMPN 7 Sukawarna, Kintamani.

“This year, we have funded the construction of three secondary schools in Bali. All of these schools are new and local students were able to start classes in these new facilities when the 2007 school term began. I'm pleased to say another three schools will be built here next year.”

The Australian Government program, developed in consultation with the Ministries of National Education and Religious Affairs, aims to create more than 330,000 new junior secondary school (SMP) places for 13 to 15 year olds by mid-2009, targeting children from poor and remote areas.

Local people are building the schools using locally supplied materials. The school sites have been selected based on assessments of unmet demand, enrolment rates and community involvement.

Ogi Yutarini, KGRE's Office Manager, attended the Official Opening in Kintamani

Here is what Ogi had to say about the event.

SMPN 7 Kintamani is one of the three new schools in Bali built under BEP - 2000 New Schools Program. The other two school are SMPN 4 Bebandem and SMPN 7 Singaraja.

The opening of the new schools was held on 14th September 2007 at SMPN 7 Kintamani. The ceremony was attended by Bupati Bangli and a representative of the Governor of Bali. The Australian Consul General, Mr Bruce Cowled, officially handed over the school and was accompanied by Mr Alistair Sherwin, Assistant Director General AusAID for the Indonesia Program, Canberra, and Mr Andrew Collins from BEP in Jakarta. The opening ceremony went very well and the 39 students who are enrolled to this new school were happily involved during the ceremony. They welcomed guests, did dancing and singing. Later on Ogi gave KGRE stickers and pins to those students. They were very happy about that. Ogi also asked the Principal to put some copies of KGRE magazine in their new library so it won't be empty anymore.