Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The annual training on leadership program conducted by Insantama Islamic High School, Bogor, West Java province, has been appreciated by the local administration and various sides, Karebet Widjajakusuma, the Director of High Schools Student Affairs, said during a visit to ANTARA News Agency in Jakarta, as it was reported on Thursday.

"Our last years Leadership and Management Exercise in Europe was positively appreciated by various sides, such as the government agencies and people," he said.

The Management Leadership Training held in 2016 in the Netherlands and Germany was participated by 12th grade high school students. They conducted comparative studies, observed, and assessed the developments in the country, particularly in education.

"In the Netherlands, we visited various institutions such as the Indonesian embassy and several universities, one of them being Technology University of Delft," Bagus Nugroho, Head of Student Delegation, stated.

According to Karebet, the school program had received special attention from the Ministry of Education and Culture. "According to them, such activity is the first. We do it on our own initiative and efforts, including in raising funds," Karebet noted.

"Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto had even asked us to immediately report our study trip after we returned, and it will be considered for application in Bogor city," he added.

Karebet hoped that the leadership program will encourage the students to be able to play a more active role in development.

"In the third year of our previous comparative study in Australia, we no longer represented Insantama but Bogor city, and we hope to represent Indonesia in the future," Karebet revealed.

Bambang Purwanto, Head of International News Division of ANTARA News Agency, stated that such program can be a second-track diplomacy to support the Indonesian government abroad.

"Insantama teachers and students can do second-track diplomacy to help the government establish relationships with other countries," Bambang explained.

During their overseas visits, the students made presentations on a number of topics in Indonesia such as human resources improvement, infrastructures development, and social issues.

"We made presentations at several universities and schools to give them views on Indonesia, besides conducting field observations and interviewing a number of people," Bagus Nugroho explained.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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