The spirit behind Education Day<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Today, educationists in Indonesia commemorate
\nNational Education Day. To the younger generation, the words
\n"national education" might convey nothing special.<\/p>\n
To them this term is just another tag for the word "national",
\nlike "national anthem", "national flag", "national soccer team",
\n"national holiday", "national commissions", and so on. The
\nyoungsters might therefore ask: What is so special about national
\neducation, and what is really being commemorated?<\/p>\n
To older Indonesians, however, this term has a special
\nmeaning. The expression "national education" was coined by
\neducational pioneers before World War II to express a political
\nconcept. National education was popularized in the early 1920s to
\nconvey a political commitment. Indonesian educators used this
\npolitical concept to reject the educational system created by the
\nDutch colonial government. National education was an alternative
\nto colonial education.<\/p>\n
National education was not just a theoretical concept, it was
\nput into practice by founding national schools to instill strong
\nnationalism in Indonesia's youth. Through these schools students
\nwere prepared to live as Indonesians, and not as colonial
\nsubjects. National education was a integral part of the struggle
\nto achieve political independence.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, the colonial government considered national
\neducation politically dangerous. It then tried to paralyze
\nnational schools by issuing a regulation to close the schools it
\ncalled "wilde schoolen" (wild schools).<\/p>\n
The regulation, called "toezicht ordonantie", was an ordinance
\nto oversee unsubsidized private schools, and was decreed by
\nGovernor General Kiewit de Jonge and validated on Oct. 1, 1932.<\/p>\n
The resistance initiated and launched by the Ki Hajar
\nDewantara of the Taman Siswa organization was able to freeze this
\nsuppressive measure in 1933. The national schools were then
\npolitically safe, making their development possible.<\/p>\n
To express gratitude to these educational pioneers, National
\nEducation Day was established. Remembering them might help
\nrecapture their fighting and pioneering spirit, and make it part
\nof the present educational system.<\/p>\n
To many Indonesians, National Education Day evokes the memory
\nof the late Ki Hajar Dewantara, who founded the Taman Siswa
\neducational organization on July 3, 1922.<\/p>\n
Taman Siswa schools educated their students to become
\nIndonesians who are "free in their spirit, free in their
\nthinking, and free in their labor." Pupils were prepared to be
\nable to live as free persons in their own environment.<\/p>\n
It was imperative that students knew first and foremost their
\nown cultural heritage and environment, and not that of the Dutch.
\nEven though modern knowledge, as a product of Western
\ncivilization, was from the very beginning an essential part of
\nits educational program, it was always taught in a context that
\nwas distinctly indigenous -- Javanese at that time.<\/p>\n
It was in this particular respect that Taman Siswa schools
\ndiffered significantly from colonial schools, and also from
\nprivate schools whose very existence depended on consent and
\nsupport from the colonial government.<\/p>\n
The basic principle of Taman Siswa was not to accept any
\nfinancial aid from the colonial government. The reasoning behind
\nthis policy was that the education of Indonesian children is the
\nresponsibility of the Indonesian people, and that the society
\nmust do its utmost to shoulder this burden. Accepting financial
\nsupport from the colonial government would curtail the freedom to
\ndevelop an educational program entirely free from the meddling of
\nthe colonial government.<\/p>\n
The founding of Taman Siswa schools cannot be dissociated from
\nthe criticism of Ki Hajar Dewantara against the philosophy and
\npractice of the colonial schools. Ki Hajar Dewantara's objections
\nwere that the colonial schools were too elitist. Only a fraction
\nof Indonesia's youth could benefit from these colonial schools.
\nThe majority of Indonesia's youth were left ignorant.<\/p>\n
The colonial education program taught Indonesian pupils about
\nEuropean, especially Dutch, society and civilization, but left
\nthem ignorant of their own cultural heritage, problems and
\npotential. In some cases Indonesian pupils became alienated from
\ntheir own social and cultural environment because of this
\ncolonial education. In the worst case they became unable to speak
\ntheir own language.<\/p>\n
This cultural and social alienation made Indonesian pupils
\ninsensitive to the suffering of the less-fortunate Indonesian
\npeople, and also indifferent toward the ongoing social, economic
\nand political struggle.<\/p>\n
Teaching these values to a large portion of the Indonesian
\nyouth would certainly have gradually eroded any aspirations of
\nbecoming an independent nation.<\/p>\n
Independence could only be sustained if youngsters are
\nprovided with national education. The development of national
\nschools with programs tailored to the needs of a struggling
\nsociety became a political imperative.<\/p>\n
National education survived all the obstructive measures laid
\ndown by the colonial government. This idea was adopted by other
\nIndonesian schools which initially cooperated with the colonial
\ngovernment. They gradually became more radical, and together with
\nTaman Siswa they became an inseparable part of the national
\nmovement toward independence.<\/p>\n
These national schools later became the embryo of the national
\neducation that we have today. The strength and viability of this
\nembryo was tested twice during the Japanese occupation, and
\nduring the battles for independence between 1945 and 1949.<\/p>\n
As we pay tribute to the educational pioneers, it would be
\nwise to ask ourselves the meaning of "national education" today.<\/p>\n
What should be the relationship between national education and
\neducation for participation in international life? How can we
\nrevitalize our national education so that it becomes a part of
\nthe national cultural force striving toward a more dignified
\nexistence amid the family of modern, globalized nations?<\/p>\n
There is a myriad of other questions that we have to ponder,
\nbut the central question among them is, I think, the one about
\nrevitalizing our educational system in order to regain the place
\nnational education once occupied within the nation. It may be a
\ngood idea if we followed Ki Hajar Dewantara's example and thought
\nand acted as "pioneers in the field of politics, education and
\nculture."<\/p>\n
Window: These national schools later became the embryo of the
\nnational education that we have today.<\/p>",
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