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Ground-breaking Event of PIAGET Life Academy: An Innovative School for the New World

Ceremony for the construction of Piaget Life Academy (PL Academy)

On 23rd November 2019, Singapore National Academy (SNA), Surabaya, held a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of its new campus: Piaget Life Academy (PL Academy) or V2.

Present at the ground-breaking event was: East Java’s Vice-Governor, Dr. Emil Elestianto Dardak; President Director of Maspion Group, Dr Alim Markus; Head of the Board of Governor for PIAGET Academy, Mr William Yiu; Director of Centre for Experiential Learning: College of Lifelong and Experiential Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Dr Yap Meen Sheng; Principal of Singapore National Academy (SNA), Mr. Peter Araman; and other esteemed guests.

Mr William Yiu explained that, “the future education centre was built based on my concept and research, five years ago called Version 2.0 (V2). V2 is a mindset change which encourages teachers to think out of the box.” This encouragement to be innovative is a stepping stone to change the education system.

Piaget Life Academy is slated to open in the 2020-2021 academic year, with age ranges from kindergarten one to primary four. In the first phase, the eight-story building will be established with a unique Rubik’s cube design. This school is also designed as a lifelong learning community which allows parents and students to daily enjoy many facilities, like a study room, gymnasium, swimming pool, meeting room, lounges, café, and playground. This is based on the saying “It takes a village to raise a child”. Cooperation and support from parents and teachers are crucial in students’ learning process. Learning in the new campus is unimpeded by space and time, especially with supportive facilities, which enables them to explore, learn, and innovate at school.

Piaget Life Academy would like to prove its commitment as an education foundation to provide the best education, answering the future needs of Indonesia. This foundation was established more than 20 years ago and has founded two very successful schools in Indonesia – National High Jakarta School and Singapore National Academy Surabaya.

Piaget Life Academy will collaborate with Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS) for the quality development of educators. SUSS Director, Dr. Yap explained, “Singapore educators also need to learn from the best practices of the region. Our students, staff, and faculty will learn alongside the educators in this country itself.” As education and teaching methods are constantly developing, Piaget Life Academy welcomes any collaboration in research and partners with community members to study the students’ needs, which evolve over time.

Piaget Life Academy aims to prepare students to be ready to face the future. 21st century life skills are prioritised in all learning aspects, with Singaporean and Cambridge curriculums delivered. The highly-dedicated mentors guide the students to maximise their learning process and character development. The high ratio between students and mentors results in effective mentorship. Peter Araman agreed with Indonesia’s new Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim’s Teachers’ Day speech on the importance of relaxing the administrative duties of teachers to give them a chance to be more innovation. He added that to bring innovation in teaching, “it’s never going to be top down because that won’t be effective, therefore it’s going to have to start with the teachers.”

In the press conference, Dr Emil Dardak stated, “Surabaya already has a good education system but there is also a need to always be innovative. [Piaget Academy] working with Singapore is considered a collaboration between countries, not simply taking the whole of the Singaporean education system, but adapting it into the Indonesian education system. My hope is that Indonesia’s education system will be enriched with the best practices from all over the world.”

The ground-breaking event was made special with the symbolic handover of a bookshelf full of books to the school PTT Tunas Harapan represented by Gramedia and IndoNation Building.

The esteemed guests of honour took part in three ground-breaking events: the symbolic Golden Nail, the Golden Shovel, and the Siren button. Hence, all three events symbolised the marking of the laying of the first stone of Piaget Life Academy. The adorable V2 pioneer batch of students from years one and two were invited on stage to carry out a hand-stamping event to mark the first batch to experience Piaget Life’s innovative teaching style.

At the press conference, Dr Emil Dardak said, “Our (Indonesia’s) education quality is comparable to that in other countries. Other countries use pedagogy and a curriculum that is not adopted 100 percent into our formal Indonesian education system, but it can be merged to further enrich it. There is not one way for education. What we have to open is a space to then be innovative. As mentioned in Education Minister, Nadiem Makarim‘s speech, if we do not open a space for innovation, how can we instil inspiration? With this in mind, we appreciate the innovation that is set up by this future education centre because of V2’s different teaching and learning styles.”

We hope for the best for the new Piaget Life Academy and look forward to an innovative learning campus that will lead to dynamic future leaders of Indonesia. As Dr. Alim Markus said, “We, as a nation consists of diverse cultures, religions, and communities becoming one. We shall prosper together, held side by side, with our love of Indonesia and our aim for a better, stronger economy as one.”

Image: Surabaya Pagi

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