Help! Teachers can't keep up with science
Help! Teachers can't keep up with science
By Prapti Widinugraheni
MANADO, North Sulawesi (JP): Educators in remote areas must compensate for the lack of information and an inadequate infrastructure to produce qualified graduates, a rector says.
Jan Turang, the new rector of the state Teachers Training and Education Institute (IKIP) in Manado, said last week that these handicaps explain why many IKIP graduates are unable to keep up with advancements in science and technology.
Jan was installed yesterday by Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro to replace Max Wullur.
"I think a strong commitment to provide good facilities is needed by lecturers and managers of the teachers' institutes so the schools can attract quality high-school graduates and lecturers as well," he told The Jakarta Post.
Turang agreed with Wardiman's advice that IKIP schools seek funding from sources other than the government, like private companies.
Bambang Soehendro, the ministry's Director General for Higher Education, said that many teachers do not have enough knowledge about science and technology to teach satisfactorily.
"The substance of science and technology must be taught to prospective teachers. This way, the quality of graduates from teachers' schools can come close to that of universities," Bambang said.
He said the government has attempted to stipulate that graduates of teachers' school, who obtain S1 diplomas, improve their proficiency in science and technology by taking a masters course in relevant fields at a university.
"If a student studies how to teach math at IKIP, he or she should take a masters course on mathematical sciences at a university," he explained.
This way, he said, teachers will be able to adjust to developments in education due to advancements in science and technology, rather than concentrating only on how to teach.
"I'm not saying that the latter isn't important. I'm only saying that its not enough," he stressed.
In a step toward this idea, the first six semesters of maths and sciences taught in IKIP have been made equivalent to the first six semesters taught in university, he said.
Later, Bambang said, the curriculum of all disciplines will be similarly structured.
He said about US$200 million is needed to achieve this aim, and admitted that it is expected to come from foreign loans.
He said the government is trying to more evenly distribute teachers throughout the country because there is too many teachers of certain subjects and lack of teachers in others.
"There is currently four times the number of PMP (courses on the state ideology Pancasila) teachers needed and a serious shortage of math and science teachers," Bambang explained.
The main reason for this, he pointed out, was the emergence of a large number of private teachers' training institutions which the government is unable to control.
"Private institutions usually opt for fields with a minimum amount of investment and operational costs. Social disciplines best meet this requirement because costly equipment and laboratories are not needed," he said.
Anyone can set up a school by law, so there is little the government can do, he said. He added, however, that the government will try to limit the number of civil servant lecturers teaching at private institutions.
"We will only allow those who teach subjects in high demand," Bambang said.