Key to better education system in Indonesia

Key to better education system in Indonesia

Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, Former Governor, National Resilience Institute
(Lemhanas), Jakarta

Without the access to a high standard of education people are
not able to lead the fulfilling lives they might otherwise have
enjoyed. Nations that aim to create a prosperous, strong and
healthy society cannot afford to ignore the rights of their
people to an education. Indonesia is presently experiencing the
results of its past education policies.

Education has become an expensive process, partly due to
developments in science and technology. Education must be up to
date with the advancements of society but this requires the
constant renewal of resources.

The population is growing, and more and more people are
struggling to afford a good education in order to improve their
futures. Education should be open to everyone and not just a
select few. If the desire for education is there it seems that
the battle is half way won.

But often only the children of wealthy parents can enjoy a
good education, as their parent's are financially capable of
paying the high tuition fees of private institutions.

This further exacerbates the polarization between rich and
poor, the wealthy have access to information and are equipped
with skills that make them valuable to modern society, the poor
remain uneducated and lacking in such basic modern requirements
as computer literacy .

It is easy to predict the social inequalities and even
security problems that will develop from such oversights. In a
developing nation like Indonesia it is up to the government to
lead the way to a better education for all of its people. In
Germany and Sweden the government finances education from the
elementary level up until university level. It can't be denied
that education is the most important investment that a nation can
make.

There are many debates today about education. Does the answer
to a better education system lie in a new approach to curriculum
or the improvement of the teacher's salary?

The first step toward better education is the understanding of
the issue by leadership at both national and local levels.
Without their cooperation the improvement of teacher's salaries
and welfare remains a dream. It is also the key to a better
education for teacher's.

If there were abundant financial resources it would be
possible to make all basic and secondary education free, such as
in Malaysia. The need for the government's subsidy of tertiary
education has become the subject of student demonstrations. But
if the government lacks in financial strength it will be slow to
find the appropriate funds.

The House of Representatives could issue a law proscribing a
20 percent share for education in the national budget. But if the
size of the government budget is limited, 20 percent of it is not
worth much. So the government's leadership needs to aim for the
growth of the Gross National Product and an increase in national
wealth.

Indonesia has never enjoyed a government that puts education
first. President Sukarno was a great national leader but he
always favored a system of mass political education.
His government did not pay enough attention to education and his
bad economic management further aggravated poor efforts toward
improving the system.

President Soeharto had some positive ideas about the role of
education but Soeharto and his ministers considered education to
be a mere commodity and never the most important investment of
the nation. The Soeharto government established a system of 9
years of compulsory education but did not provide the resources
to make it successful. The result was not an improvement of human
resources but, on the contrary, the increase of an unskilled
labor force.

For Soeharto and his economists the improvement of such things
as the building of roads, harbors and the electric power system
had a much higher priority than education. This notion still
prevails today among leading politicians and economists.

If Indonesia seriously wants to improve education it needs to
solve other problems first. The national leadership must be
convinced that education is the most important investment for the
nation and it must be sincere in following up its conviction with
policies to provide the necessary revenue for education.

The same requirement must be extended to leadership at a local
level. Without the certainty of leaders -- that education must
improve in its capacity and quality -- it is unrealistic to hope
for better education in Indonesia.