"Brain drain": When the cream of the crop leaves the country

Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High/Scope Indonesia School, Jakarta

"The other day one of my college lecturers asked me what I planned to do after I graduated. She told me that she assumed I would be returning to Indonesia to 'help out'. With quite a lot of embarrassment I had to admit to her and to myself that I was not entirely happy with the idea of returning to my home country. In fact, to be honest, I would be happy to stay right where I am."

Where this person is, is the United States of America where she is currently evidently enjoying her studies. She sent this e- mail message as a reflection upon the dilemma that she will be facing as graduation looms. Unfortunately, like many other young Indonesians, she is struggling to accept her home country as the place where she wishes to continue living and working.

A considerable number of young Indonesians both at home and abroad are clearly suffering in this quandary. Indeed many are so caught up in this quandary that it is making them miserable and depressed about the future of Indonesia. This is a serious condition, as future generations seem to be mentally unhappy and ill-at-ease with where they are.

Should anyone feel less than at home in their home country is a sad state of affairs but this problem, for Indonesians, is compounded by the fact that it often seems to be the best students and best minds that seem miserable and depressed about prospects at home. This is, if unchecked, likely to lead to the regrettable condition of what has elsewhere been termed as "brain drain"; as the best minds will be attracted and likely to stay overseas.

Naturally, this will leave Indonesia suffering even more from a shortfall of professionals. The country already suffers from something of a lack of leaders in politics, business and science development but if the brain drain effect does take further grip, problems of leadership may only grow.

And there is tangible evidence that the best among future generations are content to contemplate life outside of Indonesia. Anyone involved in high schools or higher education can witness this on almost a daily basis. Take these comments from two senior high students. Both were achieving excellent grades for their schoolwork but sadly this did not seem to be any solace for them. In fact, for them their good grades merely represented something of a ticket to leave Indonesia.

The first, a boy in the last year of his schooling explained that he was "working extra hard to get the best grades and be the best of the best. If I do that, I have a better chance of getting a scholarship. I hope to get one for America but if not I'll be happy to go to Australia." For this student, then, who incidentally was among the top students in his school, the motivation was clear. Get good grades, get a scholarship and get out. He was asked to explain why he was so keen to get a scholarship overseas; his answer was simple and to the point, "Universities in the U.S. or Australia are better than in Indonesia."

Something of a double blow may be observed here. He doubted both the future prospects of remaining in Indonesia and the current value of participating in Indonesian education. This kind of complaint is also apparent in the comments of another high school student who is very clearly looking for an alternative for her education.

This student, frustrated and essentially overwhelmed by the excessive curricula forced upon her by Indonesian schools, made the bold decision that she wanted to move away from Indonesia. With family members resident in Canada and after doing some research on the nature of schools and schooling in Canada she concluded that the move to that country would prove most advantageous to her.

With about one and a half years to go in her high school education the challenges of contemplating a move, at such an intense and sensitive time, are great. But it seems that she is convinced that she would be making the right decision. Her enthusiastic comments include the fact that "at schools (in Canada) students don't have so many subjects to study. The teachers really seem to care and look after students and they can enjoy school work with the interesting projects that are assigned."

In short, she found the promise of education in another country uplifting. She was seeing that it would give her more opportunities to explore abilities and really grow through going to school.

In a real sense she was seeing an opportunity to be rejuvenated by the change and move to a different system of education. Comparatively Indonesian education had left her depressed about herself and her own abilities. She was unhappy with her surroundings and effectively fearful for her future. Foreign experiences were reaching out to her as a way of generating new life and new hope.

Clearly both of these students' experiences are less than favorable for Indonesia. One's only motivation to do well was that he could opt out of Indonesia, whilst the other felt that she had little or no other choice to opt out before it was too late.

Two further things are striking about these two experiences. First, both of these students were and are highly capable and intelligent and so their dismay with Indonesian education is regrettable as it directly represents the brain drain effect. But also both of them are still really very young, at the ages of sixteen and seventeen they are both as yet still only on the brink of adulthood.

Two intelligent teenagers are, then, in a state of mental depression about their home country and the prospects that it holds for them. And sadly they are not alone. Others too are dismayed that, even if they do well in their studies and gain good qualifications, Indonesia may still hold only limited prospects for them.

"In Indonesia we often joke about collusion, corruption and nepotism but that is how it works here. It doesn't matter how good you are, what really matters is have you got a friend to look after you." These comments of a university student struggling to come to terms with the poor prospects for him after graduation are sad indeed.

Evidently, then, there is much work that needs to be done to restore faith in both the education system of Indonesia and prospects for graduates to remain within the country. The task is hugely challenging but there are still hearts and minds in Indonesia that are up to the task. But efforts to redress and restore confidence levels have to be maintained and on-going and have to be committed. If they are not, then there seems to be little doubt that the future will witness a growing and more painful brain drain from Indonesia.

The opinions expressed above are personal.