Govt won't abolish teachers' colleges

Govt won't abolish teachers' colleges

JAKARTA (JP): The government has denied that it wanted to
dissolve the state teachers' colleges when it announced its plan
to upgrade and change them into universities.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro told
the press after meeting with President Soeharto yesterday that
the government only wanted to improve the quality of the State
Teachers' Training Colleges (IKIP) across the country and their
graduates.

He explained that, for the initial, fund-limited stage of the
project, only three colleges will be included.

The ministry has already received requests from the state
colleges in Malang in East Java, Manado in North Sulawesi,
Semarang in Central Java, Yogyakarta, and Padang in West Sumatra
to join the project.

"No, the government won't disperse IKIP colleges," Wardiman
said. "The institutions to produce teachers will still exist."

The project will focus on ways to upgrade, for instance, the
quality of learning materials for subjects such as economics,
English and engineering. Hopefully, the project will help the
colleges' graduates in finding employment, he said.

Out of the about 43,000 graduates of IKIP colleges annually,
only 25,000 to 26,000 find work, in all fields not just teaching.

"It's true that those who don't teach will eventually find
other fields of work, but we still think it necessary to improve
their skills," Wardiman said.

Courses at the colleges usually take four years to complete,
while universities provide longer periods of learning, more
subjects and research and development opportunities.

Director General for Higher Education Bambang Soehendro told
reporters earlier this month that the program is expected to
commence within four to five years.

Bambang also said that negotiations with the World Bank to
provide US$100 million to finance the project are nearing
completion.

Wardiman said yesterday that, despite the high demand for
their graduates, there are too few polytechnics in the country.

"Because of the expense of their facilities, only a few
private universities can afford to establish polytechnics, and
the government is expected to meet the demand," Wardiman said.

The country needs 200 more polytechnics in order to produce
75,000 technicians to meet the demand in the next 25 years, he
said. (31)