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)