All schools to be accredited

All schools to be accredited

JAKARTA: The Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar
swore in on Tuesday 23 members of the National School
Accreditation Body (BAS) whose main task is to appraise the
quality of schools at all levels nationwide.

"It's embarrassing but we have to be honest about our quality
of education. We may say that our education is growing in terms
of number of schools, but it's not innovative," he said to
reporters after the ceremony.

The problem, he said, had prompted the government to set up an
institution to ensure that schools met national standards
throughout the country.

Following the national BAS, provinces, regencies, and
municipalities will set up their own BAS. The BAS' offices in
regencies and municipalities will evaluate preschools to junior
high schools while BAS' provincial offices will evaluate senior
high schools.

They would then report to the national BAS, which will give
recommendations to improve the quality of education.

The accreditation body's members -- both national and local --
will be selected from communities, besides representatives from
the government. --JP