State High School No. 11 in Bandung is Ready to Become a Quality School

Bandung, May 23, 2006: The Bandung Municipal Administration and Sampoerna Foundation have signed a cooperative agreement to improve the quality of education through the School Quality Improvement Program (SQIP). The signing was done by the Mayor of Bandung, H. Dada Rosada, S.H, M.Si and Chief Operating Officer of Sampoerna Foundation, Elan Merdy, in the office of the mayor of Bandung (May 23).

In his comments for the event, Elan Merdy said that Bandung is the fifth city selected to participate in the SQIP program after Depok, Sekayu, Balikpapan and Bukit Tinggi. Bandung and the 4 other municipalities were chosen due to their similarity in vision and mission concerning improving the quality of education in Indonesia.

The process for selecting the specific school in Bandung for the program began in October 2005. “For Bandung we have selected State High School No. 11 because it meets our qualifications for the program. There are 5 criteria that we apply as guidelines for our selection assessment; the profile of the school principal is the first consideration, followed by the competence of the teachers, the facilities available at the school, and the commitment of the municipal administration, as well as the management of the school,” Elan explained.

All schools selected for the SQIP program are state high schools. The most recently selected school was chosen from among the best state schools in Bandung based on the ranking issued by the Bandung Municipal Education Agency, and was not taken from among the schools toward the bottom of that listing.

“We deliberately selected a school with a middle level ranking so that we and the public will be able to see the advancements in the quality of the school that we expect to emerge over the next three years; we expect that this selected state school will be able to outshine even the currently best schools of the same level within the three years the program is applied,” Elan explained further.

According to Elan, the SQIP program is unique because it is the first collaborative program between municipal administrations and a non-governmental institution for the improvement of the quality of education through the adoption of state high schools.  Sampoerna Foundation will provide all of the necessary software for the school, such as management training for school staff, quality teacher training, and activities designed to help the students become more competitive, while the hardware for the program, such as the physical facilities and their repair and maintenance will be taken care of by the Bandung municipal administration.
 
Although many challenges remain, the signing of this cooperative agreement is expected to be just the first success of many in the implementation of the SQIP program at State High School No. 11 in Bandung for the benefit of the quality of education in Bandung and Indonesia. The SQIP program is expected to be replicated by other cities and organizations that have the same concern as Sampoerna Foundation for efforts to improve the quality of education in Indonesia.

About SQIP

The School Quality Improvement Program (SQIP) is one of the programs of the Sampoerna Foundation initiated in its efforts to maintain its commitment to improving the quality of education in Indonesia. It is planned that this program will be applied in the provinces of Indonesia within a period of 5 years. 

Sampoerna Foundation will adopt a secondary school (high school) in selected provinces to be developed into a model school for each given province. The SQIP focuses on estbalishing a stable educational infrastructurwe, starting with the improvement of the quality of teachers and ranging through to the provision of adequate supporting facilities and infrastructure.

At the end of the program, Sampoerna Foundation expects that the schools adopted into SQIP will have achieved the foundation necessary to exceling over and above other local schools. The schools adopted into SQIP are also required to share their knowledge and expertise with other schools that desire to utilize the the SQIP program format for advancement.

For more information, please contact:
Hendri B. Satrio
Media Relations
Sampoerna Foundation
Sampoerna Strategic Square, Tower B, Lantai 3
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 45
Jakarta 12930, Indonesia
Tel. +62-21-577 2340 ext. 7055 Fax. +62-21-577 2341
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