Government considering long-distance teaching

Government considering long-distance teaching

JAKARTA (JP): The government is studying the possibility of introducing long-distance teaching, taking advantage of satellite communication, to reach children who are currently denied secondary education for lack of space.

Arief E. Sadiman of the Ministry of Education and Culture said yesterday that there are currently 6.2 million children of secondary school age who are not attending schools, either because they could not be accommodated or because they live in remote places where there are no schools.

Arief, the director of the ministry's Center for Communication Technology, said that the government could only build 10,000 new classes for junior high schools a year.

The government extended the compulsory education scheme by three years in 1994 to cover the three years in junior high schools as well as the first six years in primary schools, for children aged between six and 15.

Arief said Indonesia is studying the correspondent school concept that has been developed in Australia, and expanding it to use satellite communication facilities.

Under the "distant learning" system, classes will be given through television broadcast with the help of satellite, he said.

He said the government recognizes that the method involves the use of costly equipment and that therefore its success hinges on the availability of financial resources. (01)