Foreign Minister Bob Carr today participated in an interactive online discussion linking Australian and Indonesian secondary school students, made possible through the BRIDGE (Australia-Indonesia Building Relations through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement) program.
'I was delighted to see students from a Tasmanian Christian school and an Islamic school in Bali reaching across cultures and languages and making personal connections,' said Senator Carr.
Speaking to Senator Carr, school principal Mr Hamid said he was very pleased SMA Muhammadiyah 1 school was a part of the BRIDGE program. Mr Hamid said the school enjoyed hosting teachers and students from Southern Christian College earlier this year in September and were planning a reciprocal visit in March 2013 to Tasmania.
BRIDGE, recently heralded in Australian media as an excellent example of a program that links Australian and Asian schools, demonstrates the vision of the Asian Century White Paper [external link].
AusAID is providing $3.6 million over five years to 2015 for BRIDGE Indonesia, a program that connects over 100,000 students in Australia and Indonesia through information technology, social networking tools and school visits.
SMA Muhammadiyah 1 school in Denpasar is one of five senior high schools in Bali participating in BRIDGE, in addition to three junior high schools that are part of the program. Over 5,000 kilometres away, Southern Christian College is one of four schools participating in the BRIDGE program in Tasmania.
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