Textbook thinking<\/p>\n
Although the idea to allow elementary and secondary schools
\nthroughout Indonesia to select textbooks for use in their schools
\non their own is at this stage no more than just that -- an idea
\n-- the enthusiasm with which it has been greeted by educators and
\nparents alike, can justly be taken as an expression of the pent-
\nup discontent that has for decades been brewing among the public.<\/p>\n
It has been a open secret for a long time that publishers of
\ntextbooks for schools at the \"basic education\" level -- that is,
\nschools from the elementary level up to junior and senior high
\nschools -- are selected not so much on the merit of their quality
\nas on how close those publishers' personal relations are with the
\nofficials in charge at the Ministry of National Education, or its
\nformer title, the ministry of education and culture.<\/p>\n
As a consequence, pupils and students at those levels of
\neducation were for decades literally fed \"knowledge\", which was
\nmostly not only trash but erroneous or misleading. At the same
\ntime, privileged book publishers were getting rich at the cost of
\nour younger generation and of the Indonesian public at large,
\nwhich according to some accounts, had to spend some Rp 1.4
\ntrillion for printing, publishing and distribution projects
\nhanded out by corrupt officials to unscrupulous publishers.
\nLittle wonder Indonesia has for many years been ranked poorly in
\nthe field of education on the international stage.<\/p>\n
While the idea of granting schools at all levels the right of
\nautonomy to select at least some of their teaching subjects and
\ntextbooks at their own discretion has been around for a long time
\nin the minds of teachers and educators, it is only now that the
\nthought has been talked about out loud.<\/p>\n
Then a few days ago, Minister of National Education Abdul
\nMalik Fajar told reporters he had no objection to teachers
\nselecting textbooks for use in their schools at their own
\ninitiative, as long as the government and the Indonesian
\nPublishers Association (Ikapi) retained the responsibility of
\noverseeing the quality standard of the books selected.<\/p>\n
This is progress. It does not of course necessarily eliminate
\nthe possibility of corruption and collusion, but by bringing the
\nsources of education materials closer to individual schools, at
\nleast it gives parents and the public, as well as the students
\nthemselves, better control over the process of providing books
\nfor the education of their children. Thus parents can hope that
\ntheir children's brains will no longer be crammed with incorrect
\nor misleading nonsense.<\/p>\n
Naturally, standards have to be kept up and it is fair for the
\nMinistry of National Education to require that textbooks
\nautonomously selected and used in schools meet certain minimum
\nstandards. In this context, the idea that is being offered by
\nArief Rachman, a highly reputed educator from the Jakarta State
\nUniversity, deserves considering.<\/p>\n
What he proposes is the establishment at every school of a
\ncommittee of evaluators consisting of teachers, parents and
\nrepresentatives of the public to monitor the process. Guarantees
\nmust be sought that everything proceeds openly and transparently
\nto avoid the return of corrupt practices at these lower levels.<\/p>\n
If everything goes to plan, the government will in the near
\nfuture no longer be responsible for procuring, prescribing or
\nconducting tenders for the publication of textbooks for state
\nschools. All publishers will be given an equal opportunity to
\nproduce and sell school-prescribed textbooks -- a market which
\nIkapi says is currently dominated by a few select publishers who
\nobtained the right through unfair bidding processes.<\/p>\n
On paper all this seems to point in the right direction --
\nthat is, in the direction of the long-sought principle of
\nautonomy in education and the elimination of corrupt practices in
\nthe book publishing business. For the rest, let's just see how
\nthings work out in practice -- if indeed it ever gets that far.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/textbook-thinking-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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