Education needs more attention<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The fourth National Education Convention ended
\non Friday, recommending that the country's political elite pay
\nmore attention to national education.<\/p>\n
"Therefore, we urge all people, especially the political
\nelite, to place education as a political issue that urgently
\nneeds care and handling.<\/p>\n
"Without that, education will remain stagnant as all
\ndecisionmakers can easily abandon the issue," Sutjipto, chairman
\nof the convention's organizing committee and rector of the
\nJakarta State University, told The Jakarta Post after the closing
\nof the event on Friday.<\/p>\n
"Education must be the main priority in developing Indonesia
\ninto a new nation," he said.<\/p>\n
He said a drastic change in the national education paradigm
\nmust be made in the political field.<\/p>\n
"Our politicians are used to seeing quick results and their
\ninterest is to maintain their grip on power.<\/p>\n
"Unlike the economy or politics, education is a long-term
\ninvestment and an actual foundation of the nation," Sutjipto
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The four-day convention, featuring 1,112 experts, activists,
\ngovernment officials and participants from universities from all
\nover the country, came up with a recommendation called the
\n"Agenda Jakarta 2000".<\/p>\n
Among the crucial bids was a demand for a 25-percent education
\nfund from the state budget, or 5 percent from the Gross Domestic
\nProduct.<\/p>\n
"We've been asking for this for quite a long time. Whatever
\nthe country's condition is ... 25 percent is a must, since our
\neducation system is (lagging) far behind," Sutjipto said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Ministry of National Education announced it
\nwas set to submit a Rp 25 trillion (US$2.9 billion) education
\nbudget for 2001. The proposed budget is higher than the current
\nnine-month budget in which Rp 11 trillion was allocated for
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Currently less than 10 percent of the state budget is
\nallocated for education.<\/p>\n
Separately, Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin
\nrevealed on Friday that in accordance with the planned
\nimplementation of regional autonomy in January next year, he had
\nproposed for every region an allocation of at least 20 percent of
\nthe local budget for education.<\/p>\n
"This way, the regions can be directly involved in bettering
\nthe people's schooling system as they will have bigger budgets
\nwith the autonomy," Yahya said.<\/p>\n
The closing of the convention was chaired by Vice President
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri at the Merdeka Selatan vice presidential
\npalace, where she conveyed a message for the convention to
\ncontribute to the birth of a political education that supported
\nthe development of the nation.<\/p>\n
"If we talk about quality of this nation, we talk about the
\nquality of the human resources here," she said.<\/p>\n
"That is why we have to figure the way to utilize the limited
\nresources here and properly manage the political education
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
"It's not important to debate 'link and match' because it is a
\nfact that such a concept never becomes operational and stays a
\nslogan," Megawati said, referring to the existing motto for
\nnational higher education, which requires university graduates to
\nwork and apply the skills and knowledge they obtained during
\ntheir school days into their lives.<\/p>\n
On the sidelines of the ceremony, Megawati also asked why the
\nconvention only proposed 25 percent from the state budget.<\/p>\n
"Ibu Mega said: 'why not ask for 50 percent?' And I replied
\nthat teachers never used to mark up figures. That is the actual
\nfigure needed for education," Sutjipto said.<\/p>\n
Points of recommendation from the convention included reforms
\nin education, justice values in which education must side with
\nthe people, democratization, examples of religious values, the
\narrangement of education management in facing the
\ndecentralization era, the development of community-based
\neducation and professionalism and welfare for the education
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
It also included the development of information technology and
\nthe aspects of morality and social and intellectual ability for
\nboth students and the educators, as well as protecting children's
\nrights in education.<\/p>\n
"The short-term programs included the handling of dropouts,
\neducators' salaries, improvement of the educators' teaching
\nskills and scientific knowledge, sports development and the nine-
\nyear basic education scheme," Sutjipto added. (edt)<\/p>",
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