Education 'should be priority in Irian'

Education 'should be priority in Irian'

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya (JP): When Irian Jaya eventually receives
its special autonomy status, it will have to focus on education
to improve human resources, an education expert says.

Education in Irian Jaya, where a large proportion of its
population lives in outlying areas, has suffered from neglect.

Frans Alexander Wospakrik, rector of the Cenderawasih
University in Jayapura, said on Monday that the provincial
administration should raise its education budget from 10 percent
to 20 percent of its revenue, financed by the exploitation of its
natural resources.

Twenty percent of the budget, or about Rp 1.5 trillion, is
needed to intensify education and training programs when Irian
Jaya becomes autonomous in 10 years time," Wospakrik said in a
meeting with the House of Representatives' special committee for
the Papua autonomy bill.

He reckoned that the special autonomy would be
counterproductive and create new problems for local people if the
development of human resources continued to be neglected.

"Of around 2.5 million Papuan (native Irian) people, only 10
percent have elementary and high school educational backgrounds
and only one percent are college graduates. The majority of the
people live according to their traditional culture in isolated
areas throughout the province," he said.

Irian Jaya has lagged far behind other provinces in human
resources development. There has been concern that the eastern-
most province will not be able catch up with other provinces if
education remains low on the government's priority.

Wospakrik called on the government to build more elementary
and high schools in remote areas and develop the existing
universities.

Irian Jaya has two state universities -- one in Jayapura and
the other in Manokwari, and more than 20 private higher-learning
institutes, which offer programs only in social sciences.

Cenderawasih University, established in 1960, has yet to open
medical, mining or farming schools -- skills that are highly in
demand in the natural resources-rich territory.

"The university, which is almost 40 years old, has produced
only 11,000 graduates in the social sciences and only 60 percent
of those are Papuan," he said.

Financial problems have precluded the sending of its graduates
to take up postgraduate or PhD programs in other provinces or
overseas, and the carrying out of its community development
program in remote areas in the province.

Wospakrik pointed out that autonomy would not only give the
Irian administration a freer hand to develop the province but
also restore people's trust in the spirit of the unitary state of
Indonesia.

Native Irianese grouped in the Free Papua Movement have been
fighting for an independent state. Wospakrik said that Irianese
had suffered injustice in all aspects of life.

"The special autonomy status is expected to empower the people
so that they will actively participate in development programs to
improve their social welfare," Wospakrik said. (rms)