Jakarta, June 23, 2004
—The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, today agreed to provide loans to support three new pre-primary, primary, and secondary National Plus (NP) schools and one existing school in major cities on Java and Sumatra islands. The project will construct two new NP schools and open another on leased premises. The loan will also support the expansion of the Singapore International School (SIS) in Jakarta.
The loan is IFC’s first to support education in Indonesia. IFC puts a priority on promoting increased investment in this sector because improved education has a demonstrated capacity to offer the most direct effect on development and living standards. Private investment supplements public resources and improve quality, accessibility, and efficiency.
“This project will extend access to high-quality primary and secondary education in Indonesia. It will provide direct benefits to students while providing a model for educators and teachers that can be used nationally to further expand educational opportunity” said IFC East Asia Regional Director Javed Hamid.
Each NP school will accommodate up to 750 students. The curriculum uses cutting edge curriculum delivery methods designed in Singapore and already tested in Indonesia. The NP curriculum will be offered in English and Bahasa Indonesia. The schools will offer scholarships to low-income students, and will leverage school resources to provide community education programs.
The project is sponsored by the founders of SIS, which provides high-quality education modeled after the Singaporean curriculum. The school has grown gradually to about 400 students from kindergarten through the first year of secondary school. It occupies leased premises in the Jakarta neighborhood of Bona Vista.
Guy Ellena, IFC Director for Health and Education, said, “This project will provide a good education for students, and also provide teacher training, curriculum development and advanced educational methods that will ultimately benefit surrounding communities and Indonesia as whole.”
“The signing of the agreements with IFC marks a milestone for us as we pursue our greater goal of improving access to quality education for Indonesians. By providing financing, IFC enables SIS to extend its school network into new communities and pursue our goals of meeting the highest educational standards,” an SIS Board of Governors statement read.
In its fiscal year that ended in June 2003, IFC provided over $90 million to finance projects in Indonesia in a wide range of sectors, from agribusiness to financial services to manufacturing. IFC is further increasing its investment level in Indonesia during the fiscal year that ends this month.
The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY03, IFC has committed more than $37 billion of its own funds and arranged $22 billion in syndications for 2,990 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY03 was $16.7 billion for its own account and $6.6 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
