Education bill endorsement sought

JAKARTA: A group of students from various Islamic universities met House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar on Thursday to urge legislators to endorse the contentious national education bill.

Despite disagreement between Muslim and Christian groups on certain issues, the students said that the bill respected pluralism.

Article 13 (1) of the bill obliges schools to provide religious instruction according to the faith of each student.

The article requires private Christian schools to provide Muslim teachers for Muslim students enrolled in those schools and vice versa.

Religious leaders, particularly from Christian groups, reiterated that religious instruction should be conducted at the family level without state intervention.

The House's education commission chairman, Taufiqurrahman, said that each group should not only focus on the religious issue, adding that the education bill was designed to improve the competency of students.

He said that all school graduates should meet a national standard of quality. - JP