Education ministry introduces major changes
Education ministry introduces major changes
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of National Education announced on
Wednesday its planned sweeping reforms that will include changes
to school examinations and the bureaucracy of the institution.
Speaking at a year-end media conference at his office,
Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin said that students
of elementary and secondary schools would have their essay topics
increased to at least 50 percent in their final examinations.
Up to now, students have taken their examinations mostly in
the form of multiple choices. The format has been blamed for the
students' lack of analytical capability.
All the changes will take effect next year, except for
modifications in the subject of history which will only become
operational in the next curriculum year beginning in July.
Yahya said present history books would be replaced with
supplements that would exclude any interpretation or conclusion
by the government, and would provide only historical facts.
Director general of primary and secondary education Indra
Djati Sidhi, who also attended the conference, added that the
supplements would incorporate the fall of the New Order regime,
which was marked by the resignation of then president Soeharto in
May last year.
On the curriculum, the ministry will introduce a national
standardization which will provide broad guidelines to allow each
school to develop its own curriculum.
The national standards will require students to meet certain
basic competence levels according to their abilities.
"For example, first grade students of elementary schools
should know about numbers, without restricting the school from
setting a higher target," Indra said.
Yahya said the national standardization would avoid radical
changes to the national curriculum in the future.
On regional autonomy, Yahya said his ministry would continue
the past government's policy of empowering both state and private
universities in each of the country's provinces.
The pilot project of the autonomy policy is now underway at
Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, the University of Indonesia
in Jakarta, the Bandung Institute of Technology and the Bogor
Institute of Agriculture.
Director general of higher level education Satryo Soemantri
Brodjonegoro said the ministry would also speed up the
accreditation of universities across the country.
On administrative matters, Yahya said 261 personnel in his
ministry, including eight directors dealing with the arts, would
be moved to other government institutions.
The ministry has asked for a 35 percent increase in the state
budget to allow for a rise in the salaries of teachers. (04)