'Genius children should be allowed to skip grades'

'Genius children should be allowed to skip grades'

JAKARTA (JP): Exceptionally gifted children should be allowed to skip grades at school, an education expert said yesterday.

Wuryanto, the former rector of the state teachers' training college IKIP in Semarang, said that this policy would allow gifted children to advance according to their capabilities, Antara reported.

The practice of allowing gifted children to skip grades was recognized during the Dutch colonial era, and some schools continued the practice after independence in 1945 and on into the 1950s and 1960s.

The practice was stopped when the emphasis of the country's education policy shifted from striving for excellence to giving access to education to everyone, he said.

Wuryanto, who is also a member of the House of Representatives, argued that allowing gifted children to skip grades is the best method of dealing with gifted children in the absence of special schools to cater to their needs.

He doubted that the so-called superschools which are now being established in Indonesia can address the problem because these new schools, while they may boast academic excellence, are intended more for wealthy children rather than gifted ones.

The government, he said, should establish clear policy guidelines to schools on when they could allow certain children to skip grades.

Criteria necessary to allow children to skip grades should include intelligence and maturity. The latter is essential because children who skip grades will be joining older ones, he said.

Wuryanto said so far, he can only find one school that truly caters for specially gifted children, the Taruna Nusantara senior high school in Magelang, Central Java.

Under the supervision of the Armed Forces, the school, which charges no tuition fees, combines academic excellence with strict military discipline.

Taruna Nusantara produces graduates whose qualities are excellent, he said. (emb)