Education in distress

Education in distress

It would be rather odd to remark that on Thursday, May 2,
Indonesia marks National Education Day without giving readers at
least a sketchy idea of why that day has been chosen to mark the
state of education in this country. May 2, 1889, in fact, was the
date Suwardi Suryaningrat was born.

Although later in his life he would be known for his populist
and nationalist inclinations, Suwardi was born an aristocrat, as
his last name indicates, in the Paku Alaman principality of
Yogyakarta.

Being of aristocratic parentage, the Dutch colonial
administration granted him the opportunity to receive his primary
education at an elite Dutch elementary school, and after
graduation he attended a school for indigenous doctors. In this
circle of budding intellectuals, young Suwardi got his first
contact with the nationalist ideas that were beginning to emerge
in the then Netherlands East Indies.

Unable to pay the tuition fees, Suwardi left the school and,
at the age of 20, started a career working in a number of
professions, among others, as a journalist for a number of local
newspapers -- a fertile training ground for many youngsters at
that time, who were later to emerge as leading figures in the
nationalist movement.

Thus began his political career, which eventually led him into
exile. Given the choice of where he was to be banished to,
Suwardi chose the Netherlands, where he enrolled in a school for
teachers. On his return to Indonesia, and after a short stint as
a teacher in a private school run by his brother, he founded the
Taman Siswa school system and changed his name to Ki Hajar
Dewantoro, to cast off both the aristocratic badge he still
carried and to declare his chosen profession as a teacher.

In these Taman Siswa schools Suwardi introduced the then novel
concept of tut wuri handayani, which is to allow students to
develop at their own pace and each according to his own nature
with the teacher -- typically called pamong or guide -- watching
and leading from behind.

One leading rationale behind all this was to give native
Indonesians access to the same opportunities, professionally and
socially, that Dutch citizens enjoyed at that time. This was done
by carefully watching the quality of the education provided to
students at the Taman Siswa schools, which had to be at least
equal to that provided at government schools, while at the same
time imbuing in the students a sense of values and dignity as
Indonesians.

These were all lofty ideas that Indonesia's "father of
education" sought to promote. It is certainly sad to say that few
of these values are being achieved under our present education
system. On the intellectual plane at international contests,
Indonesians consistently end on the bottom ranks of the ladder.
With regard to creativity, the situation is not much better.
Morally and ethically, a serious degree of deterioration exists,
as attested by the widespread prevalence of corruption, collusion
and nepotism and the ease with which people take other people's
lives.

Clearly, something must be done without losing too much time.
In the present global environment of fierce competition,
Indonesia simply cannot afford to watch the process of
deterioration continue unchecked. Indonesians can no longer
afford to be complacent about the great strides that were
supposedly made during the New Order regime -- an evaluation that
was based solely on statistics, such as the number of schools
that are built within a certain year and the number of students
admitted.

The authorities in charge of education should listen to
criticism that there is too much educational material being
forced on our students. If this country is to progress and be
able to compete internationally, school curriculums must be
trimmed down to include only the most essential subjects so that
students can really master those that are taught. It is also well
for them to ponder the fact that Malaysia, which not so long ago
relied on teachers from Indonesia, has now overtaken this country
with regard to education and manpower development. This is not to
mention Singapore and other neighbors of Indonesia.

If overpopulation is seen as a hurdle to educational
improvement, one might ponder this parallel to President
Megawati's recent complaint about food. If China, with more than
a billion people, can be self-sufficient in food, why can't
Indonesia with a mere 210 million? Similarly, if China can
achieve such phenomenal results in terms of education and
manpower development, why can't Indonesia?

In short, Indonesia's educational system is in a mess. It is
high time for us to stop arguing and start putting it in order.
Unless we do this Indonesia might well be pushed further down the
ranks of developing nations. And we will only have ourselves to
blame if others in the not-too-distant future take advantage of
us and our resources.