Aceh Laboratory School

The UNSYIAH Laboratory School was established in 2007 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia as a collaboration between The United States-Indonesia Society (USINDO), the Syiah Kuala University, and the Sampoerna Foundation to be a model community school, educating students from the areas severely damaged by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami.

The school also serves as a laboratory school, providing university students in UNSYIAH’s College of Education and Teaching (FKIP) opportunities for pre-service practice teaching under the supervision of master teachers. Ground was broken in March, 2006 and construction was completed in early 2007. The school opened in July, 2007.

The School assists in rebuilding Aceh’s educational infrastructure, providing a means of developing future generations of teachers and a replicable example, thus implementing improvement in the Province’s school system. It also meets core educational objectives that were outlined by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the Aceh reconstruction agency (Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi, or BRR) and his staff, who see USINDO and UNSYIAH as leading the way. Finally, it offers a highly visible, unique corporate opportunity to have a long-term impact on the reconstruction of Aceh as well as a significant influence on education in Aceh, Sumatra, and Indonesia as a whole.

Support for the School underlines the people-to-people nature of the project, which was fueled by substantial donations from school children in the United States, Indonesia, and other countries, and individual donations matched by corporate grants.