Tue, 03 Oct 2000

Government pledges to give emphasis on education

JAKARTA (JP): In an effort to improve the quality of Indonesia's human resources, the government will place more emphasis on the development of national education in the next fiscal year, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Monday.

Megawati said that from government revenues of Rp 243 trillion (US$28.5 billion) in the next fiscal year, some Rp 7.3 trillion, or 3.3 percent, will be allocated for the development program in culture and education.

"The funds will be used to support the compulsory nine-year basic education program, scholarships and improvement of teachers' professionalism and education facilities," she said, while reading the draft 2001 state budget at the House of Representatives' plenary session.

She said the government was designing a new program to reform the national education system at all levels, including its financing.

According to the draft budget, the government will allocate Rp 2.7 trillion for development programs in the social welfare, health and women empowerment sector; Rp 2.3 trillion for agricultural, and Rp 4 trillion for the transportation sector.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung called on the government to pay serious attention to the poor educational system, pointing out that the education budget in Indonesia was the lowest in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

"The human resources problem deserves our serious attention. It is now time for the education sector to gain adequate attention.

"The government should increase the state budget for the education sector to improve the nation's competitiveness in the world," he said in his opening address to the plenary session.

Akbar said after the session that the government could no longer simply insert the education program into the social and service sector, but must make it a priority in the next development program.

"The educational paradigm must be changed and the education budget must be increased to at lest 20 percent of government revenues, or around 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)," he said.

The recent fourth National Education Convention, attended by education experts and government officials, proposed 25 percent of the state budget, or 5 percent of the GDP, for the education sector in the 2001 fiscal year.

The government has allocated a total of Rp 11 trillion for education, including routine spending, in fiscal year 2000.

Akbar said improvement in the education sector was needed urgently to meet the upcoming free trade era -- AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) in 2004 and APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) in 2010.

"Indonesia will be a haven for foreign professionals if we are unable to improve the quality of human resources within the next five to 10 years," he warned. (rms)