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.