Govt launches partnership program for high schools

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has launched a revamp of a partnership program between senior high schools in an endeavor to improve the quality of education and bridge the widening gap in standards between Java and the rest of the country.

Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday, Minister for National Education Bambang Sudibyo said the need for the program was urgent.

"The partnership program will first target school principals because they and teaching staff play vital roles as managers, motivators and educators in running educational institutions and producing good graduates," Bambang said.

Frequent developments in education policy at regional, national and international levels could cause schools problems but also provided them with opportunities, he said.

"These rapid changes have demanded certain skills in revising education management and designing strategic and comprehensive planning," he said.

Concrete measures were needed to improve education quality and to ensure an even spread of standards across the country, otherwise Indonesia would not be able to compete with other countries at the Southeast Asian and world levels.

The minister explained that under the program, scheduled to start in June, all directors of senior high schools and vocational institutions from the designated "least-developed" regions of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Papua will be encouraged to learn from their partner schools in Java about how to manage schools and teaching staff.

"Besides having orientation programs in their partner schools in Java, school directors from the disadvantaged regions will also undergo job training to improve their competence in school management," he said.

The partnership will be multifaceted, with an orientation program, on-the-job training, workshops, setting benchmarks, planning and final evaluation stages.

The program, which is a development of an existing program, known as the "east-west partnership", involves an exchange of ideas and experiences among partner schools.

Last year, Timika, Papua's State Senior High-School 1 (SMAN 1) principal Adnan Wasaraka spent a few months at a school in Malang, East Java, to observe the teaching process there and returned to Papua to implement what he had learned during his orientation.

Several teaching staff from Malang also went to Papua to exchange ideas with their colleagues and share their experiences on how to effectively teach and motivate students.

The government has also developed partnerships with the private sector to provide scholarships for talented students from poor families in rural areas.

Sampoerna and Raja Garuda Mas are two of a range of major companies that annually award scholarships to talented students.

Also attending the ceremony were Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab and State Minister for the Accelerated Development of Disadvantaged Regions Syaifullah Yusuf.

'Developing' Provinces 1. Papua
2. West Irian Jaya
3. Maluku
4. North Maluku
5. North Sulawesi
6. Central Sulawesi
7. South Sulawesi
8. Southeast Sulawesi
9. Gorontalo
10. East Nusa Tenggara
11. West Nusa Tenggara
12. West Kalimantan
13. Central Kalimantan
14. North Sumatra
15. West Sumatra
16. South Sumatra
17. Bengkulu

'Developed Provinces': 1. Jakarta
2. West Java
3. Central Java
4. East Java
5. Yogyakarta

Sources: The Education Ministry