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The UNSYIAH Lab School is ending its first year and has begun the process of recruiting students for the new Kelas One (tenth grade) for next year. For details, please follow the link below to the May 2008 Executive Summary.
May 2008 Executive Summary
The linked letter from Dr. Samsul Rizal, Vice Rector of Syiah Kuala University, and the letter from Nathan Camp of Volunteers in Asia about a special, much needed opportunity to support a project for the Lab School was sent to me in my dual capacity as the Vice Chairman of the Lab School Yayasan (Foundation) and The United States-Indonesia Society Advisor for the Aceh School Project, which, as you know, has been a part of the partnership that got the school started. It is my pleasure to pass it on. I believe Pak Samsul's letter and the rest of the package is self explanatory.
I concur in his opinion that having native speakers at the Lab School for the coming academic year would be a vital resource as the Lab School makes strides towards modeling educational excellence for the children of Aceh. Feel free to call or email me if you need more information. Any help you might bring the Yayasan for this important addition to the school's capacity and in its initial effort at seeking funds as a fully function organization would be most appreciated. VIA's Nathan Camp reports they already have one strong candidate:
"I'm pleased to report that VIA has found a candidate who would make an excellent volunteer at the Lab School this year. She has a variety of work experiences, including administrative and international development positions. Her enthusiasm is real and her drive to teach is very strong. She has done her homework about Aceh, the Lab School, and VIA and has both high hopes and realistic expectations about teaching and living abroad. She is prepared for the opportunity, should we offer it to her. I think she would make excellent contributions to the Lab School and a fine addition to the VIA Indonesia program in general."
Sincerely,
Margaret Sullivan
Aceh School Project Coordinator
Letter from Dr. Samsul Rizal
Letter from Nathan Camp
"The tsunami has brought us to this place so that we can provide a model for all of Indonesia." —UNSYIAH Rector Abdi A. Wahab, August 2005
The USINDO Aceh School Project is carried out in partnership with:
- University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh
- Department of Schools, City of Banda Aceh
- Department of Schools of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
- Ministry of National Education, Jakarta
- The Sampoerna Foundation
USINDO and Syiah Kuala University (UNSYIAH) are collaborating to establish the UNSYIAH Lab School, a co-educational senior high school (SMA grades 10-12) on the UNSYIAH campus in Banda Aceh. The Lab School will be a model community school, educating students primarily from the severely earthquake- and tsunami-damaged area surrounding the university, and a laboratory school, providing university students in UNSYIAH's College of Education and Teaching (FKIP) opportunities for pre-service practice teaching under the supervision of master teachers. Ground was broken in March, 2006 and construction was completed in early 2007. The school opened in July, 2007 with four 25-student sections of Class One (10th grade) and will add 100 Class One students per year for two more years to reach a total enrollment of 300 students: 100 in each of three grades. It has a faculty of a principal, vice principal and 15 expert teachers. Additional teachers will be added as needed.
- Assists in rebuilding Aceh’s educational infrastructure, providing a means of developing future generations of teachers and a replicable example, thus implementing improvement in the Province’s school system.
- Meets core educational objectives that were outlined by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the Aceh reconstruction agency (Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi, or BRR) and his staff, who see USINDO and UNSYIAH as leading the way.
- Offers a highly visible, unique corporate opportunity to have a long-term impact on the reconstruction of Aceh as well as a significant influence on education in Aceh, Sumatra, and Indonesia as a whole. Support for the Lab School underlines the people-to-people nature of the project, which was fueled by substantial donations from school children in the United States, Indonesia, and other countries, and individual donations matched by corporate grants.
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