Education's turn

Education's turn

The government's policy of allocating more funds for the education sector deserves to be welcomed. The economic crisis has hit this sector hard since many elders can no longer afford to send their children to school. So bad is the situation that many Indonesians are speaking of the country's current young generation as a lost generation. One consequence is that in the future, when incomes will be determined by a person's level of education, the disparity in incomes among the population will be critical.

Many people compare Indonesia with South Korea with regard to development. Viewed from various angles, Indonesia has a heavier burden to carry and more complex problems to solve. South Korea, however, is regarded the more successful. For certain, the factor of the United States's presence, which is making the Korean peninsula a base in fighting its battles with other major powers, cannot be disregarded. Still, it cannot be denied that South Korea has been able to make progress on its own steam.

The thing to note in evaluating this progress has made is that the South Korean government pays great attention to education. The majority of South Koreans are university graduates and many of them take further studies to reach a doctor's degree. Indonesia presents a bad example of development fueled by loans. Let's hope that the current government's greater attention to the education sector reflects a new understanding of the fact that productivity and expertise are major factors to get development moving.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta