Changes called for in national school curricula

JAKARTA (JP): Education expert J. Drost S.J. proposed yesterday cutting junior high school curricula from 42 hours a week to 38 hours to help the nation's students face competition in the globalization era.

"The curricula is too intense for students," Drost said in a seminar called to review the national education system.

"Not everyone can follow it. Only 40 percent of primary schools graduates can. What will happen to the rest of them?" asked the staff lecturer at Atmajaya Catholic University and former principal of Kanisius Senior High School.

"The system should not overburden junior high school students because it is only intended to prepare them to enter senior high schools and universities. It is not intended to get them jobs."

Drost said the current education system is not preparing Indonesian children sufficiently for the globalization era.

"It is nonsense to talk about globalization. We have to analyze and reorganize our education system from the primary to university levels," he told participants at the seminar organized by the Union of Indonesian Catholic Students.

Drost emphasized the need to revamp the junior high school system and its curricula.

The seminar Critical Analysis of the National Education System Toward the Globalization Era was opened by Joetata Hadihardaja, the Director of Private Universities at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Sukowaluyo, a member of the House Commission IX for educational affairs, in his presentation blamed the current education system for the poor quality of Indonesian university graduates.

He suspected that many schools are inflating the grades of their students in order to bolster the images of their schools.

Drost criticized the current trend to establish "super" schools in the country.

Proponents of "super" schools say such facilities are Indonesia's answer to form a better educated elite.

"The term 'super' is inviting trouble and could lead to misunderstanding. We have no need for super schools, unless they're for art and cultural education," Drost said.

Rather than encouraging the establishment of super schools, the government should improve the system so that high school students are prepared to go to university or to look for jobs, he said.

He said only 30 percent of senior high school students will go to university and the rest will enter the work force.

The current system and the prevailing culture encourage students to go to university, he said.

Parents tend to send their children to general schools rather than vocational schools, which actually would better equip the children with the skills they need when they look for work.

"It would be disastrous if all students were groomed for university life when the intellectual preparedness of many is not adequate," Drost said. (31)