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ENPASAR: SMA Bali Mandara senior high school, an international-standard school, is looking for 75 new students from low-income families throughout Bali for the next academic year. Last year, 75 poor students received scholarships to study at the prestigious boarding school located on a 10-hectare plot in Buleleng regency, north Bali.

Registration opened last February and will close on March 24. School principal I Nyoman Darta said on Thursday that the recruitment process would be very competitive.

“Students must pass the administrative selection and academic aptitude test,” Darta said, adding that a special team would visit the homes of candidates to interview parents and relatives.

All provisions about the recruitment can be found at sampoernaacademybali.blogspot.com.

The scholarships cover all three years at the school, which is jointly administered by the Bali provincial government and the Putera Sampoerna Foundation. “All of the scholarships are for three years, which is worth Rp 150 million [US$16,500] for each student,” Darta added.

The school’s curriculum uses the IGCSE system from Cambridge University. “This is the only international school in Bali with boarding facilities and a full scholarship program, and all students will be taught life skills, such as entrepreneurship and leadership,” he said.