Parents nowadays need to be savvy when choosing private schools for their children. There are so many options with strange labels, yet little reliable information is available from either the schools or the government.

Which to choose: international, national plus, International Baccalaureate, Cambridge International Examinations or just a regular school?

Why will a school label itself as an "international school" or as a "national plus school"?

International schools are those that wholly adopt a foreign curriculum, while the label "national plus" refers to private schools combining the national curriculum with another curriculum from abroad or with an accrediting institution.

Lessons on Indonesian language and culture are still taught in national plus schools but most instruction is in English.

"Schools, ethically, need to be transparent in sharing their status to parents, to avoid misperceptions," said Ridia Suryaningtyas, executive assistant of the Association of National Plus Schools (ANPS) on Thursday.

"Parents must also be active in looking for information, but in reality some just turn a blind eye and entrust their children to the schools," she said.

ANPS, established in 2001, has a total of 70 school principals, owners and consultants across Indonesia. Up to 60 of its members are from Jakarta-area schools.

The association organizes seminars, workshops and accreditation programs to improve the quality of its member schools, including aspects of management, curriculum and human resources.

Payment terms for national plus schools vary. Fees are usually paid entirely in US dollars or in combination with rupiah. The tuition might be paid in advance for the entire six years for an elementary school student or for three years for a junior or senior high school student, Ridia said.

"Only those national plus schools that apply for membership are ANPS members," she said.

There are two types of ANPS members: associate and accredited members.

The same is true for schools following an international curriculum such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) or the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE).

"There are important terms like IB-candidate and IB-accredited, of which parents are usually unaware," Ridia said.

Saur M. Tampubolon, an official at the National Education Ministry, said "national plus" was a term created by private schools, which did not exist in the regulations.

"The concepts of national plus and international standards are still vague," he said.

Saur is responsible for the development of international standards pilot project schools within the directorate general for management of elementary and secondary education at the ministry of education.

In 2007 the ministry issued quality assurance guidelines for elementary and secondary schools with international standards, which were defined as schools which first fulfill the national education standard and then enrich their curriculum with education standards from one of the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

OECD has some 30 member countries, which include developed countries such as Australia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The guidelines define nine criteria for schools with an international curriculum, including accreditations from both local and OECD-country accrediting bodies, curriculum equivalent to that of an OECD country, learning based on computer technology, teachers' competence in teaching science and math in English, school principal holding at least a master's degree and ISO 9001 certification.

When asked whether his department was charged with monitoring the schools, Saur said, "We only define the criteria and standards for quality assurance for those schools. Technically, monitoring is the duty of the municipal education agency as per the regional autonomy policy."

However, when asked this same question, the head of Jakarta's junior and senior high education agency Margani Mustar said the directorate general of management of elementary and secondary education was responsible for monitoring the development of schools with such labels.

"That's the problem -- there is no distinct body to oversee the mushrooming growth of these schools.

"Education has been handed over to the free market, without any control from the government. Only the rich own education now," education expert HAR Tilaar said.

Popular

Power begins to return after outage in Indonesia's Bali island

'Devastated' Prince Harry says no UK return but seeks reconciliation

North Sumatra to investigate hot mudflow eruptions in Mandailing Natal