In Memoriam: Father Drost, respected educationist dies, aged 79
In Memoriam: Father Drost, respected educationist dies, aged 79
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amid polemics on the need for a national exam, Indonesia mourned
the passing away of well-known educator Josephus Ignatius
Gerardus Maria Drost, better known as Father Drost, on Saturday
in Semarang, Central Java.
Drost, who was born in Batavia -- the name for Jakarta during
the Dutch colonial era -- on Aug. 1, 1925, died following
prostate illness, at Elisabeth Hospital, Semarang, Central Java.
Drost was critical of the national exam, which is aimed at
standardizing education levels in elementary, junior and senior
high schools.
He suggested the exam should not be held nationally or be used
as the only criterion for students to enter higher education.
The exam has been sharply criticized for its use in practice
to boost the grades of less intelligent students and suppress the
grades of smarter ones, to allow as many students to pass as
possible.
Despite widespread criticism, the government, with approval
from the House of Representatives, decided to continue with the
final exam in the same format this year.
Drost's concern over the national exam was very much in line
with his consistency in developing education in Indonesia.
His thoughts on education are clearly discernible in one of
his books, Sekolah: Mengajar Atau Mendidik (School: To Teach Or
To Educate), published in 1998.
He said schools were not the institution primarily responsible
for education; instead, parents and society in general had a
crucial role to play, adding that cooperation between schools,
parents and society was important in the development of
education.
Drost, the son of a Dutch couple, H.A.J Drost and M.R.L.
Eckmann, completed his basic and intermediate education in the
Netherlands. He once studied at Nan University, Amsterdam, before
it was closed during World War II.
After the war, Drost returned to Indonesia in Feb. 1946 and
continued his studies in physics at the Bandung Institute of
Technology (ITB).
Drost became interested in teaching since the time he was a
student at ITB, as he then became an assistant lecturer at the
institute. After graduating from the ITB in 1957, he taught at
Sanata Darma Teaching Institute in Yogyakarta.
Drost replaced Father N. Driyarkara as rector of the teaching
institute on Jan. 1, 1968.
Drost retired as rector in 1977. Due to his expertise and
long-established dedication to education, he was installed as
principal of Kanisius high school, Menteng, Central Jakarta, that
same year.