Better education urgent for Banten, experts say

Better education urgent for Banten, experts say

ANYER, Banten (JP): To prepare for the enactment of the
regional autonomy law in 2001, the authorities of the newly
established Banten province should first focus on improving
education, an economist said here on Saturday.

Building schools and universities is an urgent task for Banten
to help improve the quality of human resources, which in turn
will help the region catch up with other provinces, University of
Indonesia economist Bambang Brodjonegoro said during a seminar.

He said the province would have numerous opportunities to
develop its economy. "But Banten must have an adequate number of
educational institutions, ranging from kindergartens to academies
and universities, to improve the quality of human resources and
to cope with the unemployment problem."

At the moment, Bambang said, Banten only has the private
Tirtayasa University in Cilegon.

The province was made the country's 28th first-level
administrative region in a bill enacted by the House of
Representatives earlier this month. The bill is expected to be
signed into law by President Abdurrahman Wahid early next month.

According to the bill, Banten will consist of four regencies
(Serang, Pandeglang, Lebak and Tangerang) and two mayoralties
(Tangerang and Cilegon), which were formerly included in West
Java province. With a population of some nine million, the
province will have its capital in Serang.

Bambang said illiteracy, high unemployment and low life
expectancy were still fundamental problems faced in many remote
areas of Banten.

A 1999 national survey revealed that the majority of the
province's four-million workforce was illiterate, he said. About
22 percent of the population is still jobless and the life
expectancy is about 50 years, or 10 years below the national
figure.

Bambang said Lebak and Pandeglang were the least-developed of
the four regencies, while the social conditions in Tangerang and
Serang regencies and Tangerang mayoralty were relatively better.

He said about 32 percent of the workers in the two regencies
were elementary school dropouts, and a majority of the Badui
people were illiterate because they were isolated in remote areas
in Lebak and Ujungkulong.

Sardjono Djatiman, a sociologist from the University of
Indonesia who also spoke at the seminar, said the authorities
should adopt a sociocultural approach to encourage locals to
participate in the development of the new province.

"The growth-oriented development paradigm should be replaced
by a sociocultural one aimed at encouraging the people to be the
agents of local development," he said.

He said the presence of industries in the province had not
benefited locals because the development policy was oriented
toward economic growth, as it was in other part of the country.

Sardjono, who conducted research in Banten in 1970, refuted
Bambang's assertion that many people in the area were illiterate.

According to him, while many people cannot read or write using
the Latin alphabet, most can read and write Arabic.

"While a modern education should be promoted, the government
could use the Arabic language which might be more popular and
communicative in serving the locals, especially those who are
still illiterate in the Latin alphabet," he said.

He said that from a sociological point of view, the new
province would depend more on Jakarta and southern Sumatra than
the neighboring West Java province.

"Banten is a bridge for people going to Java and Sumatra and
vice versa, and part of its population migrated from Sumatra and
Java," he said.

He acknowledged that Banten, with its potential in industry,
farming and tourism, had a good opportunity to catch up in terms
of development with other provinces, including West Java.

"The new province has its industrial zones in Tangerang,
Serang and Cilegon, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in
Tangerang, tourist resorts along its northern coastal areas,
protected forest in Ujungkulon, Merak seaport and the traditional
agriculture sector. All this will contribute to local
development," he said.

He also reminded investors in the region to contribute to the
social development of locals, saying they should learn from the
Indorayon case in Porsea, North Sumatra, and the Freeport case in
Irian Jaya.

"Investors should not pay only the technological cost and dump
their waste in the local environment, but also put aside a part
of their annual profits to help local social development
programs," he said. (rms)