Education bill needs revision due to lack of vision

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Educationists are urging the government to revise the education bill, citing lack of vision and focus, before it becomes law in August of this year.

Harimurti Kridalaksana, the rector of Atma Jaya University said that the bill had failed to provide a platform for the development of national education.

Summarizing the results of an education seminar held by his university last Wednesday, he said that the government should explain in the education bill about the goals it was aiming for and provide clear directions about how these were to be achieved.

"The bill does not mention clearly what goals we want to achieve in the future and how we are to assess our present weaknesses," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The bill, which was drafted by the House of Representatives with the help of a government-appointed team, is intended to replace the 1989 education law in a bid to keep up with the latest developments in the education sector.

Harimurti criticized the bill for its erroneous vision on education. He said that the bill was defective in this regard as it identified education as a social institution.

"An institution is the end result, a product which cannot be developed anymore. But education is the process of making people become qualified," he said.

Harimurti said that the bill focused more on technical and operational matters rather than the philosophical aspects. "There is an article stating the punishments for universities that issue fake degrees. We believe that technical things like this should be accommodated in a government regulation or a ministerial decree," he said.

He added that the bill also focused more on formal education, which was only a small part of overall education. Instead, the bill should have explained the differences between informal and non-formal education in more detail.

Harimurti emphasized the government's commitment to regulating teachers' development as teachers were the key players in education.

"Teachers should be well-equipped with superb teaching methods so that they are competent enough to manage a competence-based curriculum," he said.

Harimurti warned the government and regional administrations to not take the development of national education for granted. "They should not only provide an appropriate budget for education but also realize the importance of education and put priority on it," he said.

The seminar was full of criticism of the education bill.

Paulus Suparno, the rector of Sanata Dharma University, said during the seminar that the bill was still not conducive for creating good relations among religions.

"The bill should give students freedom to choose what religious classes they wish to join. It should also set out clear rules for students who do not adhere to any of the official religions," he said.

J. Sudarminta, the rector of the Driyakarya Institute of Philosophy, emphasized that the bill only focused on various kinds of educational workers, instead of elaborating on their functions and duties.

"The bill should provide clear directions on how to improve the quality of national education because it states that the government and regional administrations should make improvements," he said.

Elsewhere, Paulus Wirotomo, head of the Department of Social Development Management at the University of Indonesia, said that the bill did not give any real authority to society, including parents, individuals, social organizations, and private companies in participating in the development of education.

"It is not clear whether they are allowed to get involved as followers or actors who actively color the development of our national education," he said.