Districts mobilized to improve nine-year basic education

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Bogor, West Java

For Theresia, 59, an elementary school teacher in Ende regency, East Nusa Tenggara, providing qualified basic education to her people is a great challenge.

She says many school-aged children in the province miss out on an education because they live several kilometers from schools and their parents cannot afford the tuition, pushing dropout levels in the province up.

"The teachers also face difficulty in keeping abreast of the latest teaching techniques since our library is short of reference books," Theresia told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Theresia was one of the teachers at the launch of the Quality Basic Education for All (QBEFA) campaign on Saturday.

The campaign has been organized by the Ministry of National Education in cooperation with United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and AusAID.

QBEFA will be held in 20 selected districts in Jakarta, West, Central and East Java, East and West Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi and Papua.

The campaign aims at encouraging parents, teachers, school principals, education policymakers, children, the media and the private sector to help ensure that children across the country receive a qualified nine-year basic education.

Unicef Indonesia recorded that some 850,000 children across the country have never been to school, while around 1.2 million children have dropped out of school.

Steven Allen, representative of Unicef Indonesia, said the initial campaign would be held until December and involve community leaders and television and radio stations.

"We will introduce the new teaching and learning approach, and community-based school management to support the quality of education, relevant subjects and students retention at school," he told the Post.

Allen said the program would guide teachers to create a child- centered learning environment, where pupils are encouraged to speak and give their opinion instead of depending on a teacher's explanation all the time.

"We need a learning environment that allows teachers to see a student as an individual, not just as a body sitting on chair number 13 or 15. But actually she or he is a real person," he said.

Allen said that schools should also design subjects relevant to the current situation.

"The children need to be informed about the prevention of HIV/AIDS, ways to avoid unhealthy lifestyles like smoking cigarettes, and ways to deal with nonviolent conflict resolutions and learn other ways to discuss and settle differences" he said.

Allen added that communities would be empowered through the program to contribute their resources, energy, commitment and creativity to participate in schooling activities.

He said that rich families could give financial support to schools, while parents who had skills and capability in teaching could help create a new atmosphere in the classroom.

Allen added that mothers could also help teachers provide teaching-learning aids using materials available but affordable and sustainable.

"So schools do not have to buy imported teaching materials or depend on the arrival of aid from Jakarta or an international agency," he said.

Allen hoped that the program could persuade policymakers to allocate some 20 percent of public funds for education.

"Education is the best investment because an uneducated population is likely to become a passive population or people who are easily manipulated by politicians for their own private agenda," he said.