The Jakarta International School, originally the Joint Embassy School, was founded in 1951 to serve the expatriate community in Jakarta.

It now serves 2,561 students (as of the 2001-2002 school year) of fifty-five different nationalities. While the largest single nationality is American, the 812 American students do not form a majority. Due to restrictions on the part of the Indonesian government, there are only 172 Indonesian students, all of whom needed a letter of dispensation from the Indonesian Ministry of National Education. After Americans, other large national groups include: South Koreans, Canadians, Australians and Japanese.

The school has four campuses comprising 46 acres. Among sundry other facilities, there are 4 libraries, 2 swimming pools, 6 gymnasiums, 3 cafeterias, 3 tennis courts, 215 classrooms, 4 theatres, 19 science labs and 7 computer labs. The Campus is beautifully maintained, and very open. In the case of the middle and high schools, the school is segmented off into small buildings holding from 8 to 24 classrooms, and each building is connected by a network of covered paths, cutting between beautifully maintained tropical foliage and lawns. I used to love running between classes when it was really pouring: even though most of the paths were covered, the rain fell so hard that a fine mist of rebounded raindrops always made us slightly damp for our next class.

JIS is also very expensive: pre-reception: $4,120; prep. jr.: $7,625; prep. sr.: $8,250; grades 1-5: $10,700; grades 6-8: $12,000; and grades 9-12: $12,250. Additionally, a $10,000 certificate is required, which may be redeemed at a depreciated value. Of course, a good majority of those at JIS aren't directly paying the school. Often the company of the student's parent will include children's education as part of the contract.

In addition to the regular high school diploma, the school also offers the International Baccalaureate and the the Advanced Placement courses. While an emphasis is placed on academia (with over 97% of students going to college or university), the school has a decent extra-curricular program. Since there are relatively few similarly styled schools in Indonesia, athletic tournaments are coordinated through IASIS (Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asia Schools). IASIS tournaments competes JIS against the Singapore International School, the International School of Kuala Lumpur, the International School of Manila, the International School Bangkok, and the Taipei American School. IASIS also coordinates Model United Nations, dance, drama, forensics, debate, art and music conventions. There is also an award winning acapella group known as "Joint Sound" managed by Larry Detweiler.

All the above information is derived either from memory or from the JIS web page: www.jisedu.org

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