More Australian and Indonesian Schools Connected through BRIDGE

Eight schools from Jakarta, Banten, East Java and South Sumatera will participate in the 2011 Australia-Indonesia sister school BRIDGE program, bringing the total number of Indonesian schools in the program to 65 across 8 provinces.

The Asia Education Foundation and the Provincial Office of the Ministry of Education signed an agreement of participation in Palembang today. Three other agreements with Jakarta, Banten, and Surabaya provinces were signed last week.

Sixteen teachers from Indonesia will travel to Australia in May 2011 to build partnerships with Australian schools, improve their English language skills and receive training on incorporating Information and Communication Technology into their teaching.

“I‘m very pleased to see more Indonesian schools join the highly successful BRIDGE program. It provides a wonderful opportunity for Indonesian and Australian teachers and students to appreciate each other’s culture and customs. This leads to enduring people-to-people links and strong school-to-school partnerships facilitated through internet-based and face-to-face communications,” said Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty.

The BRIDGE program (Building Relations through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement) was initiated in 2008 by the Australia-Indonesia Institute and is funded by the Australian Government and the Myer Foundation. The Asia Education Foundation is delivering the program with the support of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

The new schools participating in 2011 from South Sumatera include SMA Kusuma Bangsa and SMPN 9 Palembang. Other selected schools are SMPN 19 Jakarta, SDN 2 Cilegon, SMAN 2 Cilegon, MTsN Satu Atap Balaraja, MTsN Nurul Huda Banten and SDN Menanggal 601 Surabaya.

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Ray Marcelo, Counsellor (Public Affairs) tel. (021) 2550 5290 mob. 0811 187 3175