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t first, Tri Meitiya did not believe she would be accepted at the South Sumatra SMA state senior high school (Sampoerna Academy), established by the Putera Sampoerna Foundation.

Her father, who is a public minivan driver and earns Rp 50,000 (US$5.20) daily, would be unlikely to be able to afford to pay for her schooling needs.

'€œFortunately, the school exempts students from paying school fees, as all school operational costs are covered by the founder and a number of donor companies,'€ said Tri.

The school in Palembang, South Sumatra, which specially caters to students from impoverished families, is very strict in its enrollment system, carried out by the Putera Sampoerna Foundation and involving the South Sumatra Education Office.

The students must undergo five selection stages; submitting their junior high school report cards, followed by an academic potential test, an interview, focus group discussion and verification of a prospective student'€™s home situation.

'€During the home verification, we take pictures of all the rooms of a student'€™s home, such as the kitchen, bedroom and living room,'€ said SMA South Sumatra principal Erma Retnowati, adding that the selection team would later decide on the successful candidates.

According to Erma, the school applies the national and international curriculum (Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge International A/AS level) and therefore all students are required to speak English with their teachers and classmates daily.

English is a medium of instruction in several subjects, such as mathematics, chemistry, history and geography.

Some native speakers are also brought in from the Iowa State University, in the United States, to train the students in speaking English.

Some of its former students have been accepted at prestigious universities overseas, such as the University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Missouri and Texas Tech University in the US.

'€œAfter graduating, students are selected by the school, which seeks qualified students to receive graduate scholarships overseas,'€ said Vera Dona, who is currently studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who came to the students'€™ graduation of the Sampoerna Academy.

The program, added Vera, was very beneficial for her since her father was a simple farmer in Ogan Ilir regency.

Vera acknowledged she experienced culture shock when she first arrived in Honolulu.

'€œI saw people kissing on the bus. At first it was uncomfortable, but now I can deal with it,'€ she said.

Not only are SMA South Sumatra alumni studying overseas, recently two students from the school achieved an Honorable Mention Award in Environmental Science in the 2013 Asia-Pacific Conference of Young Scientists and 2013 International Science Project Olympics.

The two students who achieved the honorable award are Abi Gunawan and Putrie Rizki, who presented a scientific report titled The Use of Ammonia Sulfate as the Alternative Coagulant for Purifying Swamp Water to Produce Clean Water in Jakabaring, Palembang.

In mid June, they competed in the 2013 Genius Olympics in New York.

According to Erma, students are required to be accountable for the costs which have been provided by donors by making achievements.

'€œThe school is actually not free, but others [donors] are paying for the fees,'€ said Erma.

She also shrugged off rumors that many children of public officials and rich people have been enrolled to study there. South Sumatra Education Office head Widodo also denied the rumors.

In the near future, Widodo plans to invite all senior high schools in the province to also apply the system applied by SMA South Sumatra.

The Sampoerna Academy was founded on the vision of entrepreneur Putera Sampoerna to make education in Indonesia as excellent as other countries.

'€œHe feels that education must be improved first before other sectors,'€ said Putera Sampoerna Foundation managing director Nenny Somemawinata.

A similar school has also been established in Malang, East Java; and Bogor, West Java.