Computer should be taught at schools
JAKARTA (JP): Although the government currently has no immediate plan to include computer lessons in the national school curriculum, a senior official of the Ministry of Education and Culture says schools in major urban centers should introduce the subject as early as primary school levels.
Computer training for school children in large cities is needed to prepare them for a world in which computers are a part of everyday life, the Ministry of Education and Culture's Director of Elementary School Djauzak Ahmad said yesterday.
"At least in large cities, children should be prepared from an early age to be familiar with computers," Djauzak said addressing the start of the fourth national computer contest for elementary students yesterday.
He proposed that schools use the "local content" hours allocated in the national school curriculum to teach computer.
The mayoralty or the regency administrations decide the subjects for the "local content" hours for state-run schools. In Bali, schools use these hours for additional English lessons given that the population there actively interacts with the millions of foreign tourists who visit the island.
Some regions chose local dialects to fill in the eight hours allocated for local content subjects.
Privately run schools, however, are free to decide on their own local content subjects and some, like the Santa Maria school in Central Jakarta, has already introduced computer as a subject.
"For schools in Jakarta and other large cities, computer training would be appropriate," said Djauzak said.
In the past virtually all job vacancy advertisements stipulated fluency in English as a requirement; nowadays the ability to operate a computer has been added as the second most basic requirement for many jobs offers.
Djauzak acknowledged that the introduction of computer as a subject in the curriculum of urban schools would further widen the disparity already existing between urban and rural schools.
He said however that students in poorer areas would in time catch up.
"Some children will get these facilities sooner, and some will get them later," he said, adding that funds are a great obstacle to the equal distribution of sophisticated school equipment.
"But we will never make progress if we always think in terms of exclusivity (of access to technological skills)."
Djauzak also reminded that teachers should be creative and not depend on technology where access is not yet possible.
The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Computer and Information Professionals, Safwan Natanagara, said more awareness is needed in the importance of computer literacy.
"People tend to think of the costs," he said, "But I am sure many families can now afford it, it's just a matter of whether they want it."
Djauzak said that as the 1994 curricula for elementary schools stresses skills in reading, writing and arithmetics, software should be developed in this direction. There is much software already developed and marketed by private companies.
The results of the contest, organized by the association and the Computerkid Learning Center, will be announced on Friday.(anr)