Educational ads

Educational ads

From Media Indonesia

Our educational sector is in a mess now because the government
has yet to take stringent measures against educational
institutions -- courses and colleges -- which violate the law.
People are disappointed, having been cheated by promises made by
advertisements placed by these educational institutions, which
will resort to any means to lure prospective students.

I would like to urge people to guard against being taken in by
advertisements placed by rogue educational institutions, in which
they promise to find jobs for their graduates. It should be borne
in mind that these promises usually trap the consumers.

At the same time I also would like to urge the government to
take action against courses or educational institutions that
obviously violate the law, for example those who fail to mention
the word "course" on their signs and administrative equipment
(Article 3 subarticle 5 of ministerial decree No. 261/U/1999). If
the government does not take any action, there will be confusion
in our educational sector. A course cannot call its participants
college students, for example, when a person who has completed
the course will be equivalent in status to a junior high school
leaver.

The word "course" on the sign of an educational institution
will help someone decide whether to join this course or, rather,
join a university. What happens today is that many courses use
the term, which was previously confined to universities. Hence
the difficulty in distinguishing courses and universities.

It is my hope that the Ministry of National Education, which
has just completed a national working meeting (June 26 through
June 28, 2000, in its Sawangan educational and training center)
implements its working program, namely to put in order and take
stringent measures against educational institutions violating
educational regulations. With the aim of ridding the educational
sector of opportunists and the "educational mafia" and ensuring
that the nation's young generation is of good quality.

M. ARDAM

Jakarta