The eight national standards are content standard, process standard, graduate competency standard, teacher and educator standard, facility and infrastructure standard, management standard, cost standard and education valuation standard.

According to consultant for basic and mid-level education, Ahmad Rizali, SBI is a school that prepares students not only to comply to national standards, but also to standards of international reputation such as Cambridge, IB, TOEFL, TOEIC, ISO, and UNESCO.

This was disclosed in a discussion with the theme “SBI versus National School” in Jakarta, last week.

The discussion was attended by practitioners and observers of education, among others, Miss Indonesia 2005 as founder of the Imelda Foundation, Imelda Fransisca; Principal of SMAN 3 Depok Achmadi; Vice Chief of Curriculum of SMAN 68 Jakart, Endang Sri Hartini; Quality Assurance Sekolah Islam Al Fikri Andri Nurcahyani, and representatives of parents from SMA Madani, Kusumaningsih.

Whereas Sedangkan Sekolah Stadar Nasional (SSN/ previous terms was Sekolah Kategori Mandiri/ SKM) is a school that can optimize  the realization of education goals, potentials and resources that are available to implement the process of learning that can develop the potentials of students according to the eight national standards, in order to generate qualified graduates.

Both SBI and SSN have an important role in the effort of increasing the quality of education in Indonesia. However, the condition in practice is often not as ideal as imagined. For example SMAN 3 Depok which is one of the SSN schools appointed by the government and also a school which participates in the school development program of the Sampoerna Foundation.

According to Achmadi, the pressure to study for SSN/SKM is measured in semester credit units. This regulation indicates that SSN/SKM must apply an SKS system. Nevertheless, SMAN 3 Depok has not been able to fulfil this.

Meanwhile, Endang Sri Hartini elaborates the barriers faced regarding the real condition in the field. The main obstacle is in the usage of English in teaching.

"The ability of teachers in speaking English for daily use is very limited, not to mention in explaining scientific concepts. We are afraid that lessons are not delivered properly to students,” she says.

Andri Nurcahyani considers the international parameter of a school should not only be a matter of using bilingual. Many schools abroad such as in Japan and Korea, whose national language is not English, do not use English as communication language in the teaching process.

"However, they emphasize more on the essence of implementation of internationally standardized curricula in which students are conditioned in an international atmosphere, building global mindset, learning to appreciate others adn living in multi-culture,” says Andri Nurcahyani.

Related to curriculum, Imelda Fransisca said that the government should not just adopt any foreign curriculum to be applied in Indonesia but do research to find out what is really needed by the Indonesian community and which curricula is appropriate to meet those needs.