Govt curriculum blamed for inferior graduates
Govt curriculum blamed for inferior graduates
JAKARTA (JP): Experts lamented yesterday the poor quality of
the country's school graduates and blaming the malaise on the
government's excessive role in the design of the curriculum and
other school policies.
Syrillus Belen, a member of the Ministry of Education and
Culture's Research and Development Center, told a seminar on
education at Atma Jaya University here that schools and
universities should be given greater autonomy as they knew best
about what their community needed.
Belen suggested that Indonesia did not need a portfolio
ministry for education; education affairs could be handled
effectively enough by a state minister.
"The government has been the sole authority in educational
affairs at the national, provincial and regency levels, while
schools, universities and parent-teacher associations are only
given minor roles in matters such as the provision of text books,
uniforms, and school fees," he said to an audience of 30
representatives from various learning institutions.
"The ministry has paid little attention to how to improve the
quality of education because it is busy dealing with numerous
projects such as book supplies, uniforms, exam materials,
teachers' training and transfer of positions," he said.
He cited the privately run Al Azhar Islamic Senior High
School, St. Ursula Senior High School and Canisius Senior High
School as examples of schools which succeeded in producing high-
quality graduates because they had a greater say in the design of
their curricula and other policies.
Toenggoel Siagian, the chairman of the Association of
Christian Schools in Jakarta supported Belen.
"Ideally, the government should not do more than establish a
general policy. Individual schools know better about their needs,
about what the community and the industry wants from the
education world," he said.
He criticized the curriculum currently employed in elementary
and high schools for overburdening students and for emphasizing
rote learning.
"It's a waste of time," Siagian said, adding that rote
learning bored students. He pointed out how certain subjects such
as the state ideology Pancasila, ethics and history and
Indonesian were taught from elementary to senior high school,
while important subjects such as English, math, biology and
physics were allocated less time.
Siagian said one important thing that teachers should
emphasize in class was that students should master basic skills.
"Students should acquire skills not only to learn what their
teachers are teaching but also, and more importantly, students
should learn how to learn," he said. (rms)