`Education bill needs review'<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi and Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) urged on
\nTuesday the House of Representatives to review the education bill
\ndue to its failure to protect human rights.<\/p>\n
One human rights violation, Abdul Hakim said, is related to
\nthe objective of national education, which emphasizes the
\ncultivation of pious students.<\/p>\n
\"The education objective doesn't conform to international
\nstandards, such as developing respect for human rights, basic
\nfreedoms and principles in the United Nations Charter, developing
\nrespect for parents, cultural pluralism, languages and children,
\ndeveloping mutual understanding, peace, tolerance and developing
\nrespect for the environment.\" Abdul Hakim said in a press
\nstatement released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The education bill also reduces nondiscriminative principles
\nby stating that every citizen has the right to an excellent
\neducation only, he said.<\/p>\n
The bill also limits foreign citizens' right to get an
\neducation here by requiring further government regulation to
\nimplement Article 13 (3).<\/p>\n
Abdul Hakim said that although Article 13 (1) ensured students
\nthe right to religious instruction, the bill must not oblige
\nstudents to attend religious lessons that are not on their or
\ntheir parents' faith.<\/p>\n
The article must not burden schools with obligations beyond
\ntheir authority either, for example by requiring schools to
\nprovide religious teachers of the same religion as their
\nstudents, Abdul Hakim said.<\/p>\n
He said the bill could not restrict religious instruction to
\nonly a few religions.<\/p>\n
The bill recognizes only Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism,
\nBuddhism and Hinduism as official religions in schools.<\/p>\n
\"It means that the state does not recognize other existing
\nreligions,\" he said, referring to a letter of protest from the
\nConfucianism High Council.<\/p>\n
Confucianism or Khonghucu is not accommodated by the education
\nbill even though it was recently recognized as a religion by the
\nstate.<\/p>\n
\"Overall, although the bill attempts to acknowledge several
\ninternational standards of human rights, the bill falls short of
\nprotecting and fulfilling students' education rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Many legislators claim the bill ensures human rights and
\npluralism.<\/p>\n
The bill also fails to ensure that higher education is
\naccessible to all and provided progressively free of charge,
\nAbdul Hakim said.<\/p>\n
The bill also fails to promote and encourage international
\ncooperation on education, he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a team of House Commission VI on education and
\nreligious affairs failed on Tuesday to revise contentious issues
\nin the bill on the first day of its debate, which must be
\ncompleted by May 19.<\/p>\n
The team has been assigned to reformulate nine articles that
\nfactions in the commission failed to approve, including the goals
\nof the national education system and an article on religious
\ninstruction.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/education-bill-needs-review-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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