Educators must adapt to global changes: Wardiman

Educators must adapt to global changes: Wardiman

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The education world must constantly adapt itself to meet the changing needs of the community, education experts said yesterday.

But while Indonesia's Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro emphasized the need for education to meet the demand for qualified and skilled workers, Australian education professor David Aspin stressed the need to instill democratic values and leadership skills through education.

The two experts were speakers at an international symposium on long distance learning which got underway here on Monday night. More than 600 experts from 24 countries are taking part.

Wardiman said in his address opening the five-day symposium that rapid advances in science and technology have led to changes in the minimum skills and knowledge required of workers by the community, particularly the industrial world.

The methods of education and training should adapt to these changes, Wardiman said.

He admitted that it would be unrealistic to expect existing education institutions to meet all workers' demands.

He said education should be seen as a "never ending" process of the development of an individual and this would include, besides formal education, the various further educational courses that many people are now taking.

Aspin, of the Monash University in Melbourne, said education, particularly higher education, should not be seen solely as a place to groom people for industrial, business or civil service jobs, but also to prepare them to become political leaders in a democracy.

The campus, he said, should develop individual characters and traits required of democratic political leaders such as a strong sense of humanitarianism, social sensitivity and the ability to respect and accept criticism from others.

He warned that the 21st century will see a growing demand for greater political democracy, in addition to a greater demand for food, clothing and housing.

The world of higher education, therefore, must prepare curricula and education concepts that are capable of developing social and political values among students, he said.

The development of communication skills for students should also be encouraged, he added.

Education, Aspin said, should groom future leaders with the ability to conceptually solve the problems of society, which is increasingly becoming more complex, Aspin said.

The symposium Networking into the 21st Century: Prospects for Distance Education is the first international symposium on distance learning, a method most appropriate for countries as large as Indonesia in reaching pupils in remote areas. (har/emb)