Indonesian students weak in basic skills

Indonesian students weak in basic skills

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian students score relatively low in basic skills compared
to their peers in other countries, according to a recently
published survey of 15-year-olds.

The survey, which covered 43 countries on five continents, was
conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA).

According to the findings, about 38 percent of Indonesian
students surveyed had serious difficulty in using reading as a
tool to advance and extend their knowledge and skills in other
areas, such as daily problem solving -- a degree of proficiency
referred to in the study as Level 1.

Thirty-one percent ranked even lower than that, and only 1
percent were ranked at Level 4. None were ranked at Level 5,
which is the highest level and is reserved for students who are
able to manage information that is presented in unfamiliar texts
and show an understanding of difficult texts.

Students in Finland were the world's best in terms of reading
literacy, followed by South Korea, Hong Kong and Canada. The
lowest results were scored in Albania, Indonesia and Peru.

Reading literacy is defined as the ability to understand, use
and reflect on written texts in order to achieve one's goals, to
develop one's knowledge and potential, and to participate
effectively in society.

In mathematical literacy skills, which are defined as the
ability to identify, understand and engage in mathematics, the
score attained by Indonesian students was also significantly
lower than that of students in most other countries.

The three highest performing countries in this particular
field were Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, while the lowest were
Indonesia, Brazil and Peru.

The same is true with regard to science literary skills, which
were defined as the capacity to use scientific knowledge,
identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions.

In this respect, too, Indonesia was considered as one of the
worst performing countries, followed only by Albania, Brazil and
Peru.

The best results were obtained by Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.

The assessment is held by PISA once every three years, and is
intended to measure how well 15-year-olds are prepared to meet
the challenges of today's societies.

For that purpose questionnaires are distributed among 4,500 to
10,000 students in each participating country.

The findings also show several other indications that are very
much related to the students' performance -- including the fact
that countries with higher national incomes or gross domestic
products (GDP) tend to perform better than countries with low
national incomes.

The study also shows that students who spend more time reading
for pleasure, read a greater variety of material and show more
positive attitudes towards reading, tend to be better readers,
regardless of family background and wealth level.

Literary skills in students are important today as they will
be relevant to their future life -- even more so than the
memorization of knowledge.

According to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), a
survey conducted among adults to ascertain the relationship
between their literacy capabilities and their current work,
people with higher levels of reading literacy are more likely to
be employed and to have higher average salaries than those at
lower levels.

Literacy in mathematics and science is important in order to
understand medical, economic, environmental and other issues that
shape modern societies, which rely heavily on technological and
scientific advances.