Educational reform key to quality nation

Look around us. Our central bank governor has been convicted of graft and the speaker of the House is a defendant. Both have denied any wrongdoing and the charges made against them, arguing that they were only doing their job.

Meantime, surveys by local and international organizations show that Indonesia is unrivaled when it comes to corruption. Here, white-collar crime is rampant.

State leaders are no longer accountable to the people. People express their disappointment the wrong way by staging violent protests. Everywhere, every day, there are reports of people running amok, of riots, of clashes.

All these are an indication of declining morality. To some extent, the education system is to blame for the soaring decadence. However, many believe it is the government that must be held responsible for adopting an education system that has failed to create a nation with a moral conscience.

Instead of promoting a balance in skill and intellectual development with personality and character building, the government has for years focused on an education system that sees students as an object.

Students are an object of the industrial era. They must study to fulfill the needs of the industry. They must study to get important positions at state offices or at private companies. The result is a materialistic society that worships material gain but neglects the values that make the people both smart and cultured.

This situation must end and it must start with reform in the education system.

The amendment to Article 31 of the 1945 Constitution is expected to be a starting point in educational reform. In order to give a brief picture of the condition of the current education system and what needs to be done to improve it, The Jakarta Post's Kurniawan Hari wrote the following reports.

Only through educational reform can we expect to improve the morality and personality of our students, so that one day they will become not only skilled and intelligent but responsible people who dare to take up challenges and who are also ready to admit their mistakes and face the consequences of their deeds.