Collusion, corruption hurting the outlook for education

Collusion, corruption hurting the outlook for education

Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta

Recently a friend from the United Kingdom, who has spent much
of her working life dedicated to various aspects of the world of
education, was paying a first visit to Jakarta. Currently working
with a non governmental organization, she was naturally enough
interested to look at schools and school development in the city.

She has contacts with other educators in the city and so, she
was understandably interested and even excited to visit some
schools in the city. Visiting these schools turned out to be a
great experience for her. The teachers were welcoming and
receptive and "tried their very best English out on" her. The
students too were welcoming and fun and apparently were hugely
appreciative and enjoying the visit of this orang bule.

All of this was, then, a good experience for her and she said
that she was really struck by the great spirit and enthusiasm
that she could see in both the teachers and the students. But all
of this may, in a sense, be artificial because it is quite likely
that the teachers and the students alike were -- so to speak --
"on their best behavior" or having something of an adrenalin rush
and excitement at having a visitor who they clearly were pleased
to welcome.

However, even if the conditions and atmosphere that she was
encountering were a little unnatural and out of the norm for the
teachers and students in question, it can still be considered
pleasing that she was impressed by the spirit at the schools. But
even with this spirit present, she was still able to observe the
needs and lacks that exist in such schools.

The needs of the schools were clearly something that concerned
her but her expressions of concern were extended and exacerbated
by the general impression that she was getting in relation to the
overall management and development of education in this country.
She became aware of the apparent collusive and corruptive
practices that seem to be infecting education and detrimentally
affecting its prospects.

The news that she was becoming aware of included the return of
some ten million US dollars from the fund from the World Bank for
the Book and Reading Development Project in Indonesia. Not only
was she amazed that such a large amount of money had to be
returned but she was also shocked by the conclusion that millions
of dollars had already been spent on this project in an
"allegedly corrupt and fraudulent way".

Added in to this very regrettable environment of apparent
fraud and corruption was the fact that publishing companies and
individuals were being blacklisted by the World Bank to bar them
from future contracts. The fact that these people and companies
are being ostracized because they had seemingly engaged in
collusive practices and had ultimately procured books of poor
quality just seems to add to the woe of this story.

This story of woe involved a broad scale and overall sense of
mismanagement that very clearly hurts education in this country
in terms of its image and its effectiveness in real terms but
then this friend from England was also able to learn of a school
principal for a state run school in Jakarta who was under
investigation for mismanagement of funds on a really rather
significant scale.

These two very unfortunate stories left this visitor to
Jakarta earnestly asking the question Is education corrupt from
top to bottom in this country? Now of course, it is not really
fair to conclude that these two instances are representative of
the whole picture of education in this country but it has to be
realized that they do represent very unfortunate and unwelcome
snapshots that are damaging.

Again to quote the English visitor here she suggested that "it
is hard to get people involved and investing their time and funds
where there is a lack of trust". This has to be major concern and
something that needs the attention of the hearts and minds of
people that have a true dedication to the betterment of
individuals and society as a whole through education.

With the next president of Indonesia soon to take office, it
is perhaps something that he should seek to address. As noted,
clearly not all and quite likely only a small minority of
individuals involved in education matters are doing damage but
the damage that they do can be far reaching and lasting. Each new
president will surely lay claim to efforts to stamp out corrupt
and collusive practices, perhaps there could be no better place
to start than in the field of education.

The damage being done can be so great that it affects both
external observers such as the person noted above but also
internal practitioners and professionals in the field of
education in Indonesia. One such professional practitioner who
has dedicated his entire career to educating himself and others
exemplifies the kind of "internal problems" that education is now
having.

With some resignation and lamentation he occasionally lets it
be known that he is less than happy with the way education is
moving here. He points to the ever increasing school fees. Many
people would agree and wonder where there are improvements to
justify such increases. Whether justified or verifiable or not,
many people now consider that there are people engaged in
educational institutes who have a mentality of "what's in it for
me?" that means that their priority is self-gain on an almost
entirely materialistic level.

A while ago a teacher reported his concern that his school's
managers would consistently go out to lunch and he had the belief
that the "meal ticket" was the school's fees whilst he stayed at
the school and spent his lunch breaks with his students. Although
it is probably fair to say that he was most happy to be with his
students it still does not take away the apparent ill-feeling
that he harbored towards the school managers.

This, then, is an aspect of education today that should be of
grave concern. Where there are ill-feelings, where people
perceive ill-gotten gains and where there is a lack of trust an
aura of negativity and consternation pervades. The "spirit" that
can be seen in schools needs to be supported but it can be
fragile and can be damaged by misconduct and malpractice.

The writer is an Education Consultant.