Collusion, corruption hurting the outlook for education<\/p>\n
Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Recently a friend from the United Kingdom, who has spent much
\nof her working life dedicated to various aspects of the world of
\neducation, was paying a first visit to Jakarta. Currently working
\nwith a non governmental organization, she was naturally enough
\ninterested to look at schools and school development in the city.<\/p>\n
She has contacts with other educators in the city and so, she
\nwas understandably interested and even excited to visit some
\nschools in the city. Visiting these schools turned out to be a
\ngreat experience for her. The teachers were welcoming and
\nreceptive and \"tried their very best English out on\" her. The
\nstudents too were welcoming and fun and apparently were hugely
\nappreciative and enjoying the visit of this orang bule.<\/p>\n
All of this was, then, a good experience for her and she said
\nthat she was really struck by the great spirit and enthusiasm
\nthat she could see in both the teachers and the students. But all
\nof this may, in a sense, be artificial because it is quite likely
\nthat the teachers and the students alike were -- so to speak --
\n\"on their best behavior\" or having something of an adrenalin rush
\nand excitement at having a visitor who they clearly were pleased
\nto welcome.<\/p>\n
However, even if the conditions and atmosphere that she was
\nencountering were a little unnatural and out of the norm for the
\nteachers and students in question, it can still be considered
\npleasing that she was impressed by the spirit at the schools. But
\neven with this spirit present, she was still able to observe the
\nneeds and lacks that exist in such schools.<\/p>\n
The needs of the schools were clearly something that concerned
\nher but her expressions of concern were extended and exacerbated
\nby the general impression that she was getting in relation to the
\noverall management and development of education in this country.
\nShe became aware of the apparent collusive and corruptive
\npractices that seem to be infecting education and detrimentally
\naffecting its prospects.<\/p>\n
The news that she was becoming aware of included the return of
\nsome ten million US dollars from the fund from the World Bank for
\nthe Book and Reading Development Project in Indonesia. Not only
\nwas she amazed that such a large amount of money had to be
\nreturned but she was also shocked by the conclusion that millions
\nof dollars had already been spent on this project in an
\n\"allegedly corrupt and fraudulent way\".<\/p>\n
Added in to this very regrettable environment of apparent
\nfraud and corruption was the fact that publishing companies and
\nindividuals were being blacklisted by the World Bank to bar them
\nfrom future contracts. The fact that these people and companies
\nare being ostracized because they had seemingly engaged in
\ncollusive practices and had ultimately procured books of poor
\nquality just seems to add to the woe of this story.<\/p>\n
This story of woe involved a broad scale and overall sense of
\nmismanagement that very clearly hurts education in this country
\nin terms of its image and its effectiveness in real terms but
\nthen this friend from England was also able to learn of a school
\nprincipal for a state run school in Jakarta who was under
\ninvestigation for mismanagement of funds on a really rather
\nsignificant scale.<\/p>\n
These two very unfortunate stories left this visitor to
\nJakarta earnestly asking the question Is education corrupt from
\ntop to bottom in this country? Now of course, it is not really
\nfair to conclude that these two instances are representative of
\nthe whole picture of education in this country but it has to be
\nrealized that they do represent very unfortunate and unwelcome
\nsnapshots that are damaging.<\/p>\n
Again to quote the English visitor here she suggested that \"it
\nis hard to get people involved and investing their time and funds
\nwhere there is a lack of trust\". This has to be major concern and
\nsomething that needs the attention of the hearts and minds of
\npeople that have a true dedication to the betterment of
\nindividuals and society as a whole through education.<\/p>\n
With the next president of Indonesia soon to take office, it
\nis perhaps something that he should seek to address. As noted,
\nclearly not all and quite likely only a small minority of
\nindividuals involved in education matters are doing damage but
\nthe damage that they do can be far reaching and lasting. Each new
\npresident will surely lay claim to efforts to stamp out corrupt
\nand collusive practices, perhaps there could be no better place
\nto start than in the field of education.<\/p>\n
The damage being done can be so great that it affects both
\nexternal observers such as the person noted above but also
\ninternal practitioners and professionals in the field of
\neducation in Indonesia. One such professional practitioner who
\nhas dedicated his entire career to educating himself and others
\nexemplifies the kind of \"internal problems\" that education is now
\nhaving.<\/p>\n
With some resignation and lamentation he occasionally lets it
\nbe known that he is less than happy with the way education is
\nmoving here. He points to the ever increasing school fees. Many
\npeople would agree and wonder where there are improvements to
\njustify such increases. Whether justified or verifiable or not,
\nmany people now consider that there are people engaged in
\neducational institutes who have a mentality of \"what's in it for
\nme?\" that means that their priority is self-gain on an almost
\nentirely materialistic level.<\/p>\n
A while ago a teacher reported his concern that his school's
\nmanagers would consistently go out to lunch and he had the belief
\nthat the \"meal ticket\" was the school's fees whilst he stayed at
\nthe school and spent his lunch breaks with his students. Although
\nit is probably fair to say that he was most happy to be with his
\nstudents it still does not take away the apparent ill-feeling
\nthat he harbored towards the school managers.<\/p>\n
This, then, is an aspect of education today that should be of
\ngrave concern. Where there are ill-feelings, where people
\nperceive ill-gotten gains and where there is a lack of trust an
\naura of negativity and consternation pervades. The \"spirit\" that
\ncan be seen in schools needs to be supported but it can be
\nfragile and can be damaged by misconduct and malpractice.<\/p>\n
The writer is an Education Consultant.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/collusion-corruption-hurting-the-outlook-for-education-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }