Education experts call for revision of curriculum

JAKARTA (JP): Education experts called for a more hasty review and revision of the curriculum instead of the usual 10-year cycle to allow the country's education content to be more factual, and to respond to the challenges of globalization.

"Countries such as Japan or German quickly evaluate or revise their curriculum every four to five years," said M. Djamil Ibrahim, director of the curriculum center at the Ministry of National Education.

"If we are stuck with the old ones, how can we adjust to global demands?" he told journalists on Monday.

The current curriculum has been used for six years and was last revised in 1994, replacing the previous curriculum which was drafted in 1984.

"Revising the curriculum has always been a tough issue as it inevitably costs a lot of money to, for example, change text books," Djamil said.

"But actually the basic sciences such as mathematics never change a great deal so we don't necessarily need new books. The most important thing is how these children can master basic education," Djamil said.

Meanwhile, a team of experts on basic education also slammed the government's inconsistencies and lack of a "sense of crisis" in running the education policy which has caused Indonesia to have a poor ranking in mathematics and science.

According to a recent survey of 38 members of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Indonesia ranked in the bottom six in mathematics and science.

"We always knew that our students are very poor in maths and science because since 1975 the average score for both subjects in the National Exam was never above the passing grade, which is six," Ade Cahyana, head of information for basic education division.

One difficulty according to Ade is the fact that the education policy often changes in line with the promotion of a new education minister.

"Fuad Hasan put emphasis on local content, Wardiman Djojonegoro wanted more linking and matching. Now Minister Yahya strives to place basic education at the core of the curriculum".

"We are outclassed on almost every front as our students lack practice and are instead getting too many lectures in both maths and science," Ade remarked.

N.S. Vijaya of the curriculum center further stated that the way students are taught needs to be improved.

"Students only learn maths and science in an abstract way, which obviously weakens their logic," Vijaya said.

In a bid to cope with the complex problem, the ministry of national education's research center is planning to standardize basic science for elementary to secondary education and higher education which includes cross-disciplinary subjects such as criminology

"It is sad that there are even policeman who cannot differentiate between tapioca flour and heroin. It is basic science," Vijaya said. (edt)