Juwono tries to lower drop outs
By Emmy Fitri and Riyadi
JAKARTA (JP): A month ago he was the state minister of environment in Soeharto's Cabinet. Today he is the minister of education and culture in President B.J. Habibie's reform Cabinet.
A political lecturer at the University of Indonesia, Juwono Sudarsono, 56, has only 18 months to work on the education sector amid the economical and political downturn in the country.
Once a new president and vice president is elected in December 1999, as promised by Habibie, he might not be a minister anymore.
"My time frame is only 18 months. So, I don't want to make pompous programs with highly worded visions as visions usually end up to be illusions," Juwono told The Jakarta Post at his office last week.
Father of two sons, Vishnu and Yudhistira, Juwono said his main priority was to reduce the level of student dropouts, from elementary school to university.
He projected that 30 percent to 40 percent of students from all levels were likely to drop out of school because their parents or foster parents could no longer afford school fees or because they wanted their children to help them make ends met in time of this hardship.
To reduce the number of dropouts, the Ministry of Education and Culture, with financial support from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Children's Fund, will launch rescue operations.
Official launching of the rescue program is scheduled for tomorrow.
"Rescue operations are so pressing now to prevent massive dropouts, because once you drop out it's difficult to climb back into the system," said Juwono, husband of Priharum Astinah who used to be one of his students at the University of Indonesia.
The rescue program, supported by US$400 million financial aid from the above mentioned international agencies, will try to save 1.2 million elementary school students (out of 29 million students), 1.6 million secondary school students (out of 9.6 million), 250,000 high school students (out of six million) and about 175,000 university students (out of 2.5 million) through various scholarship facilities.
On top of that, the ministry will provide block grants to 40 percent of elementary, secondary and high schools and 20 percent to universities.
Scholarships and block grants will be transferred directly to students and schools through state Bank Rayak Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia.
Juwono estimates there will be about 5 percent to 10 percent error in the implementation of the program because not all schools have skilled personnel to manage the funds.
Eight percent of the total budget for the rescue program has been allocated for monitoring and evaluation.
"But I'm still so sad because I have to accept the reality that many more students cannot be saved (from becoming dropouts). And this is the one thing which sparks various comments about tuition fees, student donations and much more. But I accept that as the risk of being a minister. Now is the time when ministers can be scolded for unsettled matters."
Optimism
For Juwono, however, the economic turmoil is a blessing in disguise. The situation is forcing people to live and work more efficiently.
"I observe in some secondary high schools, students and school officials don't rush to buy new felt-tip markers but instead buy ink to refill the empty ones. And in some universities, administrators have started to economize on electricity and air conditioner usage. Indonesians are champions in improvisation in times of crisis."
In times of crisis, there are challenges for private schools and universities, especially in managing their budgets.
"I'm aware (of the problems) and understand if private universities consequently hike their tuition fees for survival."
Out of almost 1,400 private universities across the country, only 10 percent can be categorized as good, 30 percent as moderate and the rest as bad and very bad. The latter will possibly be a casualty of the natural selection for survival.
"Bad institutions will surely close down when no more students enroll, either they don't want to or they can't afford to. And by coincidence, they have to pass through this situation. It's better for them to close down rather than pretend to be a school but only deceive people.
"But I think we all have to start to live orderly, efficiently and prudently, including in the teaching and learning processes so that we can maintain pockets of excellence even amid the worst crisis ever."
Transparency
For better management of education institutions in a time of crisis, a clear and transparent annual budget should be developed in each school and university. The administrators should involve students' parents to discuss financial matters before the school year begins.
If necessary, they can form a foundation, with donations from parents, to ease their financial burden.
"I think that would be all right as long as the foundation is managed transparently. So, a institution of transparency is of utmost importance here."
Juwono, who was the University of Indonesia's School of Political and Social Sciences' dean from 1988 to 1994, recalled that he managed to establish a foundation to collect funds for the faculty's operations.
The foundation collected some Rp 30 million per annum from parents of new students. From the bank interest alone, about Rp 1.5 million per quarter at the time, the faculty could do a lot, such as finance several operational expenses and give additional benefits to teachers.
"It was totally voluntary. Some well-off parents donated Rp 5 million to Rp 10 million. Some donated air conditioners. But for those who could not help, they should not help. They must not be too bashful to say so.
"I think that's a good system, the haves help the have-nots. What's important is transparency in managing the funds. It must be accounted for annually."
Transparency and routine accountability is crucial in a school's management, especially since goodwill to send children to school can be misused by those who want to take benefit of it because education institutions, especially private ones, are susceptible to commercialism.
Years ahead
Juwono, who obtained his master of arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1970, is convinced that education should be viewed in a broader perspective because educational issues are intertwined with cultural issues.
Parents of poor households will encourage their children to contribute toward the families' livelihood rather than go to school.
"It's not a matter of economic reality but of culture as well. Parents will ask their children aged over 14 to quit school and help their families make a living."
Juwono said his ministry had five basic principles: improvement of quality, equality in opportunity, relevance, efficiency of educational management and national culture.
Despite his far-sighted perspectives on preparing human resources for global competition, Juwono, born in Ciamis in West Java, said he believed that being well-educated was not enough. One also needs to identify with one's culture.
Juwono said he also wanted to develop eight basic abilities -- to read, to write, to speak, to listen, to observe, to calculate, to visualize and to sensitize -- to be applied at all education levels.
However, the level of sophistication would be different from one level to the next.
The eight basic abilities would encompass the existing aspects of humanity, community and technology.
And to make schools more realistic and enjoyable to students, Juwono says he will cut down the number of subjects taught. At the same time, he plans to assign two lecturers to each class, one teaching the subject and the other observing and evaluating.
The 1978-graduate of the London School of Economics says Indonesia must prepare to face the challenges of the next millennium and be ready to compete with other Asian countries by preparing the skills of its workforce.
Juwono outlines the need for more vocational institutions to be established. The government plans to increase the number of polytechnic schools from the current 16 to at least 120 by 2020.
"People have already taken aside the idea of competitiveness built on land and labor capital. They now believe more in human capital. That's what we're going to save.
"It's probably really how to save a generation from the monetary crisis, so they can be ready to compete in 2003, when countries in the region enter into a free trade area."
School and politics
No one is denying the fact that students played a major role in forcing former president Soeharto to step down after 32 years in power, opening the way for reforms in all sectors.
However, unlike his predecessor who banned students from participating in "practical politics" Juwono cautiously says: "What I want is that practical politics can be materialized as political education.
"Universities can invite public figures for panel discussions or as honorary lecturers. But I don't want campuses to become a venue of political campaigns. If we allow such campaigns in the name of democracy, then all parties will enter campuses. Consequently, the campuses will be unable to perform their main duties."
However, any panel discussion involving people outside campus would remain a public forum, and therefore would not be protected by academic freedom, which according to Juwono applies only to a structured class, lecture or discussion.
Distortion and confusion are easily recognizable among today's students as they regard campuses as areas were anybody can freely talk and shout about anything they want.
"Now there is confusion among students, as if when you enter a campus you can talk about whatever you want. He who can speak freely and be protected by academic freedom is a professor in a structured class. Even a professor, if he talks in a public forum, is just an ordinary citizen, and as such can face criminal charges if he starts defaming someone.