Few students show interest in math, physics<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Poor physics and math skills among Indonesian
\nstudents could obstruct the country's high technology development
\ndrive, a high-ranking education research official warned
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Above all, students have very little interest in physics and
\nmath,\" Sri Hardjoko Wirjomartono, head of the Research and
\nDevelopment Center of the Ministry of Education and Culture told
\na seminar on human resources here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Five Hundred students, teachers and government officials
\nattended the seminar, which was opened by Minister of Education
\nand Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro.<\/p>\n
The seminar, sponsored by Atmajaya Foundation, is part of the
\nsenior high school scientific program's physics and math
\ncompetitions in Jakarta and West Java.<\/p>\n
According to Sri, a nation which is facing the age of
\nindustrialization era needs human resources who have mastered
\nhigh technology.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, the country should prepare human resources in the
\nhigh technology sectors at the earliest stage,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He said when Indonesia signed the Asia Pacific Economic
\nCooperation (APEC) agreement recently, Indonesia opened itself up
\nto foreign capital and human resources. \"In this case, we need
\nhighly competitive people with strong backgrounds in physics and
\nmath.\"<\/p>\n
Data collected by the ministry in 1993 and 1994 in a
\nnationwide evaluation of students show poor scores for physics
\nand math in elementary, junior and senior high schools.<\/p>\n
The average scores, from a grading scale of one to 10, were
\n5.5 for grade schools, 4.0 for junior high schools, and 4.8 for
\nsenior high schools, compared to the scores for social studies,
\nwhich averaged 6.8, 6.5, and 6.8.<\/p>\n
The inability of teachers to explain the subjects and a lack
\nof facilities for practice contribute to the problem, Sri said.<\/p>\n
\"We have requested US$250 million from the World Bank to
\nfinance an educational development program especially for these
\nsubjects,\" Sri told The Jakarta Post after the speech.<\/p>\n
Joko Budoyo, a senior high school teacher of math, said that
\nmost students cannot relate the theories they learn at school to
\ndaily life, for example, trading activities.<\/p>\n
One of the students attending the seminar told the Post that
\nshe and her classmates are afraid of physics and math.<\/p>\n
The student, who identified herself as Yola, said that besides
\nthe subjects being so difficult, the teachers \"are usually too
\nrigid.\" (03\/10)<\/p>",
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