AUSSIES WELCOME RI SCHOOLS SEEKING PARTNERSHIPS

Brisbane, Australia, May 28 (ANTARA) - Principals of 15 schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) hinted that they would welcome Indonesian schools seeking partnership programs, an Indonesian government official said Thursday.

The goodwill of those schools to build partnerships came up at a working lunch recently held at the Indonesian embassy, Education and Cultural Attache in Canberra Aris Junaidi said.

The school principals attending the gathering gave a positive response to the Indonesian education ministry's new partnership schools program. "The response is very positive. Australian schools are ready to become partners," he said.

The working lunch, attended by Ambassador Primo Alui Joelianto, was aimed at strengthening the embassy's relations with local schools teaching Indonesian. Besides the heads of schools, representatives of the ACT Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Catholic Education Office also came, he said.

"Under this partnership schools program, around 15-20 Indonesian schools, from primary to senior secondary level, will be looking for sister schools in Australia."
"The partner schools will work together to improve education quality through collaborative e-learning, particularly in subjects such as English and Indonesian language," Junaidi said.

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) would help motivate students as it opens up fun new ways of learning. Students would communicate with each other via email, and participate in online discussions using technologies such as Skype.

"Teachers and students will also be able to participate in exchange programs," he said.

According to Junaidi, the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra kept playing an active role in supporting the teaching and study of Indonesian language by opening its Cultural Center for groups of students' visits but also hosting two Indonesian language teaching conferences in October 2008 and May 2009, he said.

"The Embassy is also working with DET to provide local schools with Indonesian native-speakers to assist their Indonesian language teachings," he said.

Junaidi said the relationship with the ACT schools teaching Indonesian had been excellent but he was looking at new ways that the two sides could work together to promote Indonesian language and cultural studies.

"The partnership schools program is an exciting new initiative. So far, several principals have expressed their interest in the program," he said.

A total of 25 state and privately-owned schools in Canberra and its surrounding areas teach Indonesian. Over these past few years, the number of Australian students studying Indonesian at primary and high schools tend to decline but it remains the third most widely taught language in ACT public schools. ***5***