MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
Australia is funding the construction of six new schools on the Indonesian island of Bali as part of a partnership to raise the standard of basic education across Indonesia.
These schools are part of an Australian Government program to build or expand 2,000 schools in Indonesia, across 20 provinces. It is expected that up to 1,225 schools will be completed by early 2008.
The Basic Education Program, developed in consultation with the Ministries of National Education and Religious Affairs, aims to create more than 330,000 new junior secondary school places for 13 to 15 year olds by mid-2009, targeting children from poor and remote areas.
Three new schools in Bali are being inaugurated today in a ceremony attended by officials from Bali's provincial government, and by Australia's Consul General to Bali, Bruce Cowled.
Australia is supporting education in recognition of the enormously positive impact it has on the quality of people's lives. Through supporting education, Australia will help to give Indonesian students a better chance to develop skills to enter the workforce.
Local people are building the schools using locally supplied materials. The school sites have been selected based on assessments of unmet demand, enrolment rates and community involvement.
The opening of these schools represents a further example of the strong bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia, and is a concrete example of Australia's genuine desire to help Indonesia to recover from the impact of the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
In July the Prime Minister, John Howard, with the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, opened the Australian-funded $7 million Australia-Bali Memorial Eye Centre, which will restore the sight of the thousands of Balinese affected by cataract blindness.
The Basic Education Program is funded under the $1 billion Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development announced by the Prime Minister in January 2005.
Media contacts:
Malcolm Cole (Minister's Office) 02 6277 7500
AusAID Public Affairs 0417 680 590