Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS), formerly Jakarta International School, is a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
, embassy-backed
international school
An international school is an institution that promotes education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterized by a multinational student body a ...
in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It was established in 1951 for expatriate students living in Jakarta and is the largest international primary and secondary school in Indonesia. JIS has more than 2,000 students aged 3 to 18 from over 60 nationalities.
The school adheres to an American curriculum while taking pieces from other curriculum models from
pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
through
grade 12
Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...
. It is accredited by the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...
and the Council of International Schools.
Since JIS is an American Overseas School, it is assisted by th
US Department of State's Office of Overseas Schools The
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
reports the curriculum offered at Jakarta Intercultural School "has a strong international focus",
and considers it one of the best schools overseas for preparing students for American university entrance. JIS has three campuses, two solely for elementary students in Pattimura and Pondok Indah, and one much bigger and considered the main campus for junior high and high school students in
Cilandak, South Jakarta Cilandak (Sundanese: ᮎᮤᮜᮔ᮪ᮓᮊ᮪) is a district of South Jakarta, Indonesia. The Krukut River flows through the eastern edge of Cilandak, while the Pesanggrahan and Grogol Rivers flow through the western edge.
The southern portion of ...
.
The school changed its name to Jakarta Intercultural School from Jakarta International School in 2014 to comply with the Indonesian government's regulations on prohibiting the use of the word "international" in school names.
History
Jakarta Intercultural School was established in 1951, as a school for the children of
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
staff posted in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
, the capital of the then newly independent
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
Due to an increased international presence in Jakarta, the school moved into newer facilities at its Pattimura campus in 1953. In 1969, the school became the "Joint Embassy School" under the sponsorship of the Australian, British,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
n, and United States Embassies.
Architectural and engineering practice ''International Design Consultants (IDC)'' was commissioned to build additional facilities for the school.
The new campus was built in Cilandak, a residential area in South Jakarta. The Cilandak campus was completed in 1977 and serves as the middle school and high school.
[JIS Alumni & Community Magazine, Fall 2006, Vol. XII No.1](_blank)
(PDF). JIS Alumni Association. Retrieved on 2008-07-14 The school adopted the name "Jakarta International School" in 1978 and changed its name to "Jakarta Intercultural School" in 2014.
Facilities
Jakarta Intercultural School has three campuses totaling and is one of the largest international schools in the world according to
H2L2 Architecture.
Pattimura Elementary (K-5) is located in the
Kebayoran Baru
Kebayoran Baru is a district ( id, kecamatan) of South Jakarta, Indonesia. The name of the district was derived from an area which was developed in the post-war period as a new suburb town of Jakarta, Kebayoran Baru. Kebayoran Baru was the last re ...
area. Pondok Indah Elementary (K-5) and Cilandak (6–12) are adjacent to each other in
Pondok Indah
Pondok Indah is an upscale residential area in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, Indonesia. Dubbed the Beverly Hills of Indonesia, this is a much sought-after suburb by expatriates, conglomerates, celebrities, and government officials. This area ...
in South Jakarta.
Facilities are mostly air-conditioned and include 184 classrooms, four theaters, three cafeterias, three tennis courts, six gymnasiums, six playing fields, three swimming pools, 18 science laboratories, design technology facilities, and four libraries with a total of 130,000 volumes.
The school has a three-level food court, medical clinic, a school bus system run by the Bluebird company and an ambulance.
Administration
Jakarta Intercultural School is an Indonesian foundation (''yayasan'') overseen by a board of governors and a school council, that functions like a school board or board of education. The School Council is an eleven-member Board of Patrons; nine elected, four of whom are elected by the parents and three appointed by the Founding Embassies. They, in turn, appoint four other members, one of whom must be an Indonesian citizen.
Enrollment
Jakarta Intercultural School is the largest international primary and secondary school in Indonesia, enrolling 2,469 students from 61 nationalities during the 2007–2008 school year.
[Jakarta Intercultural School Demographics 2007–2008](_blank)
(PDF). ''JIS Alumni & Community Magazine, Spring 2008, pg.33''. Retrieved on 2008-07-23. The five most commonly represented nationalities were the United States, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, India, and Australia.
Secondary education
Jakarta Intercultural School offers tuition for grades 1–12. Students undertake the JIS Diploma, and can choose to complete an
International Baccalaureate Diploma
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
,
an International
Advanced Placement Diploma (APID). Over 97 percent of graduating seniors go on to a university or college.
The JIS diploma focuses on an American style curriculum. For the 2010 graduating class, the universities that JIS students were mostly accepted in included: Boston University, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.
Co-curricular activities
Middle and High school level students at Jakarta Intercultural School compete in intramural and interscholastic sports throughout the year.
Jakarta Intercultural School belongs to the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (
IASAS
The Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) is an association of six private schools in and around Southeast Asia. The member schools are International School Bangkok (Thailand), International School of Kuala Lumpur (Malays ...
) which competes with six international schools in Southeast Asia. IASAS schools alternate hosting each other for tournaments, exchanges, conventions and competitions. Three IASAS seasons per year frame the HS sports and cultural competition calendar.
IASAS Sports: Boys and Girls Varsity and Junior Varsity sports teams follow the IASAS season schedule at JIS each year.
*Season One: Cross-country, Volleyball, Soccer
*Season Two: Basketball, Rugby/Touch, Swimming, Tennis
*Season Three: Track and Field, Badminton, Softball, Golf
Cultural Convention: Held in March, JIS participates in IASAS Cultural Convention, which includes three separate components: "
Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
and
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
", "
Dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
and
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
", and "
Debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...
and
Forensics
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimina ...
".
Model United Nations: JIS participates in the non-competitive IASAS Model United Nations, and holds an annual General Assembly.
IASAS Math: JIS participates in the IASAS Math program.
IASAS Chess: JIS has participated from the start of the IASAS Chess Competition.
TEDxJIS Conferences: TEDxJIS suite of conferences are independently organized TED events dedicated to Jakarta Intercultural School's ideas worth spreading, operating under license from TED Conferences LLC. It includes the annual TEDxJIS conference, TEDxYouth@JIS, TEDxJISLive, TEDxJISWomen, and TEDxJISSalon.
Cilandak Games: An annual competition amongst the high school students hosted on campus, where teams correspond to grade level. Each grade competes in various in-person and online activities such as Jenga Challenge, Escape Room, Among Us, Amazing Race, Banner Painting, Basketball, Jeopardy, Minute-To-Win-It, and Tug of War.
JIS Peduli and ''Letters from Aceh''
Following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
, JIS started a campaign called JIS Peduli to raise money for schools affected by the disaster. The campaign included ''Letters from Aceh'', a collection of letters and photographs exchanged between the children of the tsunami affected Indonesian province of
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
, students from JIS, and schools worldwide.
The collection has a foreword by Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (born 9 September 1949), commonly referred to by his initials SBY, is an Indonesian politician and retired army general who served as the sixth president of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party ...
and proceeds were donated to a school-rebuilding program. The funds raised by JIS Peduli went towards a new community high school on the campus of
Syiah Kuala University
Syiah Kuala University ( id, Universitas Syiah Kuala), abbreviated as USK (formerly: ''Unsyiah''), founded on 2 September 1961, is the largest and the oldest national university in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The name of the university is taken from t ...
in
Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...
.
Threats and security
Since its founding, Jakarta Intercultural School has been affected by the political and economic turbulence of Jakarta, receiving both direct and indirect threats to its security. During the 1960s, an attempted coup d'état by, allegedly, the
Communist Party of Indonesia
The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...
forced the evacuation of the school. In 1998, the school year ended early due to riots leading up to
President Suharto's resignation, during which time most expatriate families were evacuated from the country.
JIS has also been a potential target for
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
.
Following the
2002 Bali bombings
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other nationalit ...
(to which a JIS mathematics teacher, Jamie Wellington, fell victim while on holiday), JIS and other international schools in Jakarta closed for several weeks after warnings of a possible terror attack.
JIS was also on the target list of the terrorist group responsible for the
2003 Marriott Hotel bombing
The 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on August 5, 2003 in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta, Indonesia. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, killing 12 people and injuring 150. Those killed including ...
, which killed 13 people.
In response to these threats, JIS has made security upgrades. In 2002, the school added a three-meter-high "blast wall," a "boom gate" in front of the school, and protective security film over exterior windows.
According to the head of the
Australian International School in Jakarta, JIS received $2 million in
US government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
security assistance in 2004.
By 2005, the school had installed a security fence, with guards checking cars before they enter the premises.
From May 2005 to June 2008, counterterrorism officials stated their belief that the threat of a terrorist attack in Jakarta had diminished, although authorities continued to stress the need for vigilance.
Criminal allegations
In April 2014 a mother reported that her five-year-old child had been repeatedly raped by the school's
ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (J ...
cleaning staff when he visited the school toilet. The mother then changed her story to accuse two JIS teachers of the abuse. Jakarta Intercultural School has terminated its contract with the company ever since.
Two teachers were detained in July 2014 having been charged with the rape of three pre-school boys at the school. Despite these allegations, the school, its students, and their parents have voiced their support for the accused.
Several cleaners who previously admitted to the charges recanted, claiming that police had used physical violence to make them confess.
In April 2015 the two persons received prison sentences of ten years each. In August 2015 the civil suit against the school filed in the South Jakarta District Court was thrown out. Several foreign governments and expatriates in Jakarta believe the teachers' prosecutions were invalid. Once the civil suit against the school for US$125M was denied by the Jakarta court the two accused teachers were subsequently freed from jail. The prosecuting attorney has also since been arrested on unrelated charges of bribery of court judges in Medan. In February 2016, the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal of the two teachers and reinstated their imprisonment. As of early 2019, the two teachers are still imprisoned. Based on information provided by Canadian and UK news media in July 2019, it would appear that one of the accused has been granted clemency and has returned home to Canada.
The case was considered by some to be flawed with "malicious prosecution" or "investigation with evil purpose" while one of the accused cleaners died in custody with signs of violence.
Notable alumni
References
External links
Official website
{{Coord missing, Indonesia
South Jakarta
International schools in Jakarta
International Baccalaureate schools in Indonesia
1951 establishments in Indonesia
Educational institutions established in 1951