Decentralization of education in Indonesia

H. Mohamad Surya, President, Indonesian Teachers' Association (PGRI), Bandung, West Java

Recently, education in Indonesia has had to face a number of challenges resulting from globalization and its impacts. Among the criticisms are those related to the highly centralized management of education and a lack of autonomy as causes of ineffective development of education.

Under a centralistic pattern, education has become separate from the community as stakeholder of education. Its management has therefore been based not on an educational paradigm but on administrative and bureaucratic aspects. Teachers as a central figure are not empowered under such a system; they have been treated as subordinates who must follow administrative regulations.

Today, decentralization should be expected to foster improvement of education in the districts, in institutions, and in classrooms. Decentralization can be undertaken through the provision of autonomy for teachers and other school personnel to enable them to make the best, professional decisions.

Autonomy of education would guarantee diversity through the reflection of local values and local education. At the curricular level, the national curriculum would be developed only regarding essential concepts, and the local curriculum would be developed regionally.

Such autonomy would enable the development of education by involving direct interaction between teachers, students, and also parents. Educational institutions would have to have full authority in managing education.

At the local level, teachers and those who run educational institutions are closest to their local government. The concern of local administrations for education would be reflected in the provision of adequate funds and other resources, including professional management and improvement of teacher welfare.

Practicing regional autonomy should also enable the local government to manage education according its vision, mission, and strategy. It would also ensure the relevance between education and the needs of regional development.

Such autonomy would do away with the red tape that has been involved in managing education so far, and would also enable the best use of all resources. Autonomy would also bring about a more realistic participation of the community in educational matters, apart from a better promotion of the welfare of teachers and other educational personnel.

Improving education must start from the teachers, particularly in regards their professionalism and welfare under a professional management.

So far, classic problems have remained unresolved. These include the quantity, quality, and distribution of teachers. The number of teachers do not meet the number of students, and the lack of teachers qualified in various subjects, particularly at the elementary level, have been a major problem in many villages and remote areas. Qualitatively, most teachers nowadays don't even meet the minimum educational requirements. Worse, there is still an inadequate distribution of teachers among schools and regions.

Discrimination is a main concern regarding teachers' welfare. There is, for instance, a widening gap in welfare between teachers, bureaucrats, and other civil servants in the educational field.

Second, there is a widening gap between teachers and lecturers, with the latter having long enjoyed many incentives. Third, there is a widening gap among teachers at the elementary and the junior high levels. Fourth, a widening gap in salary is also found among public and private school teachers. Fifth, there is a widening gap in salary between full-time and part-time teachers; and sixth, a similar gap exists between teachers assigned to big cities and those posted in villages or remote areas.

Seventh, there is a widening gap between teachers who have a heavier workload due to the limited number of teachers, and those who have less responsibilities because of a surplus of teachers at given institutions, but these two groups earn the same salary.

Teaching is still unappealing as a profession because of its low pay, despite its great responsibility. Teachers deserve to lead normal and respectable lives, which they unfortunately don't get from this sort of profession.

However, from the point of view of human resource management, teaching is not based on an educational paradigm but still falls under pressure of bureaucratic management -- which, in turn, is heavily influenced by the political climate and power politics in Jakarta.

There is no effectiveness in the educational system and its components, including recruitment, appointment, placement, and supervision. Neither is there a balanced correlation between the demand for, and the number of, teachers.

To improve our chronic teacher-related problems, the central and local governments must have the political will and concern to place teaching positions more proportionally within the integral national education system, and to reform all related rules and laws to make them relevant to current expectations.

The bureaucratic approach to the management of teachers must be replaced with one that is more systemic and coordinated among related institutions.

Teachers' training, apart from the education system, needs to be reformed to ensure the production of more qualified teachers and other supporting human resources.

The welfare of teachers must of course be improved through a reasonable salary and fringe benefits. This system should be able to attract teachers in such a way that would encourage them to work with more dedication, and with more material and spiritual satisfaction.

The above is abridged from the writer's presentation at the Autonomy of Education in Indonesia Conference 2002 held in September at the Australian National University in Canberra.