Educators place blame but come up short on solutions

Educators place blame but come up short on solutions

By Santi WE Soekanto

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Poorly qualified teachers are the main obstacle to improving the education system in Indonesia, educators taking part in a national congress on education said yesterday.

H.A.R. Tilaar of the state-owned Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) in Jakarta told The Jakarta Post that few teacher colleges are rigorous in their selection of teachers.

"Garbage in, garbage out," said Tilaar. "We take extra care in selecting the head of a company or even of a university, but we let just about anybody teach our children.

"How can we expect our children to compete and meet future challenges if they are taught by people who lack professionalism, vision?" he asked.

Tilaar, who has been teaching for 45 years and is known for his sharp criticism of the national education system, cited how in the 1970s he used to take Indonesian teachers to Malaysia to help make up for shortages there. Now, he said, Indonesians go to Malaysia to study from Malaysian teachers.

"Our education is poorly managed," he said. "This is the third convention, held every four years...and we're still talking about how to improve the quality of our education."

Tilaar and a number of other educators interviewed by the Post pointed out a number of flaws in the education system.

I Wayan Ardhana, a professor at IKIP Malang, East Java, said low teaching salaries dissuade students from taking up the profession, which more and more people hold in low esteem.

Tilaar agrees. "Teaching salaries should be increased to three times what they receive now."

Ardhana recalled a few years ago that the government opened a special school for elementary school teachers to meet a shortage at the time. Now, he said, more than 7,000 teaching graduates are looking for work.

"It's really bad planning on the part of the government. Who wants to be a teacher now?" he said. "Meanwhile, the buildings, laboratories and facilities at several training institutes go wasted because no one wants to become a teacher."

In 1992, Indonesia received the United Nations Avicenna Award for promoting "education for all", including those in remote areas.

With some 29 million children in primary schools, seven million in junior high and four million in senior high schools across the archipelago, quality continues to fall short of quantity.

Marsetio Donoseputro, a member of the House Commission IX for education, said the public could not "expect to see substantial changes or breakthroughs in the management of national education".

"Not when we talk about financial aspects or control of the management of education," he said.

Bambang Soehendro, the director general of higher education at the Ministry of Education, blamed poor coordination of the government agencies in charge of education.

Weaknesses can be spotted throughout the whole system, from the production of teachers to recruitment and placement, he said.

Sri Hardjoko, the head of the ministry's center for research and development, said the government has made efforts to improve quality of education.

"We send teachers to courses, improve facilities, provide books, revise curriculums and teaching methods," he said.

The education ministry has said that the equality of opportunity, the relevance of education as well as the quality and efficiency of education are all areas the government is trying to improve.