Candidates promise to improve education
Candidates promise to improve education
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The two presidential candidates wrapped up the three-day dialog
with a similar pledge of improving the poor state of education.
With a lower audience turnout, the program ran beyond the
General Elections Commission's expected time limit as it had to
cancel the signing of a mutual agreement between the two
candidates to uphold a peaceful election runoff.
According to the commission's original plan, the two
contenders would cap the campaign period with the signing of the
pact and a handshake to mark their commitment to peaceful
elections.
The country will see a three-day cooling-off period before
Monday's runoff.
Candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was the first to rise
to the podium in the televised dialog on Thursday, attributed the
poor state of education to low government spending.
"In the next five years of our administration, we will try our
best to approach the 20 percent benchmark set by the
Constitution," Susilo said, in response to a question raised by
panelist Aida Hitalaya Hubeis of the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture (IPB).
Susilo said that meeting the Constitution's demand was within
the government's reach, if the country's economy could grow at a
sufficient rate and the future administration could boost
efficiency.
"Among other things, we must defer the construction of
unnecessary buildings and the purchase of luxury cars for state
officials. Tax expansion and profits accrued from state-owned
enterprises could also be another source of funding," Susilo
said.
His running mate Jusuf Kalla added that well-off and
economically disadvantaged students would pay different fees.
"The rich must pay more for their education, while the poor will
pay less," he said.
Susilo, who attributed the nation's declining morality to
obscenity and violence shown on television, was intent on
regulating TV programs with violent material.
Meanwhile, President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running
mate Hasyim Muzadi, declined to addressing the issue by spending
more. Megawati instead focused on improving teachers' welfare.
"Our teachers live in a poor conditions, how can we expect
them to teach our children properly?" she said, adding that her
future government was set to include the teachers in a national
social security scheme.
Megawati and Hasyim also pledged to recruit more teachers and
streamline the current curriculum, which they said was too heavy
for students.
"Among the problems is the redundant curriculum. Once a new
education minister is installed, the curriculum will also be
changed. We need to streamline it," she said, responding to a
question raised by education expert Ki Supriyoko of Taman Siswa
foundation.
When asked by panelist Seto Mulyadi, a children's rights
activist about the possibility of setting up a new ministry to
handle problems plaguing the country's children, Megawati only
said: "It won't be necessary, as the problems could be resolved
by focusing on parents who cause the problems."