Minister admits poor standard of local education

Minister admits poor standard of local education

JAKARTA (JP): Education minister Abdul Malik Fajar admitted on
Monday that the national education system did not run as well as
had been expected due to various problems, ranging from the size
of the population, heterogeneity to fund shortages.

"Critics see the reality of the condition of our education
system, but we should also realize that we face various problems
which are not easy to solve," he told The Jakarta Post.

Malik Fajar made the remarks in response to a survey by Hong
Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which
has ranked the Indonesian education system the lowest in Asia
after Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.

Noted education analyst Mochtar Buchori blamed the poor
education system on the lack of political will, saying most
leaders thought mainly about their own positions rather than the
problems faced by the nation.

"It's pitiful to see that most of our political leaders are
merely power chasers, not statesmen," said Buchori, adding that
the small proportion of funds allocated for education also showed
the lack of commitment to the importance of education.

"If we see education as a burden, we'll consider it heavy. But
if we see it as an investment, we have to spend money for that.
Only a handful of people consider education an investment because
it takes time to see the results," he added.

Commenting on how Teachers Training Institutes (IKIP) were
changed into universities, he said that it was evidence of the
chaotic condition of the local education system.

"There are many problems faced by IKIP, but it should not
necessarily lead to their closure as they are still needed to
create teachers. We can still improve their condition," said
Buchori, a former senior researcher at the National Institute of
Sciences (LIPI).

Asked about the most difficult problems faced by the education
ministry, Malik Fajar said the Indonesian education system was
very centralistic in that nearly all aspects of education were
decided by the central government.

"We should change this centralistic system into one that
accommodates local considerations, including the culture. It's
not an easy job," he said, adding that successful implementation
of regional autonomy was expected to have a positive effect on
local education.

The minister said that the lack of facilities in schools and
the poor quality of teachers constituted other problems affecting
education.

"We are not speaking about schools in remote areas outside
Java, but about elementary schools in suburban areas of Jakarta.
I weep whenever I see the substandard facilities owned by the
schools," said the minister.

Buchori underlined the importance of improving teacher
quality, saying that improving teachers' welfare was not the only
way to improve the quality of the education system.

"Improving teachers' welfare is crucial, but it should be
followed with improvement of their quality," Buchori told the
Post.

Acknowledging that many schools managed by private investors
were of high quality, Malik Fajar invited the private sector to
continue investing in education. In the future, he said, the
government would only act as facilitator, motivator and
inspirer. "Education will be run through the bottom-up approach,
not top-down as what we see now," he said.

Malik Fajar said that his ministry was developing a scheme
that would offer incentives to businessmen and companies that
focused on education. "We will, for example, give them tax
incentives. But the idea should first be discussed with other
government agencies," he added.

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives said they
had for a long time been calling for fundamental changes in the
education system and the curricula, especially for elementary and
high schools, but no serious response had been given by the
government.

A. Tambunan, chairman of House Commission VII on education,
labor and social affairs, expressed concern over the fact that
too much emphasis was placed on cognitive elements, instead of
better interaction between students and teaching staff.

"Students are taught too much, but do not master what they
have learned and do not know how to apply it in their lives," he
said, adding that ideally teachers should function mainly as
facilitators.

Paul S. Baut, a member of the commission, said it was time for
the government to simplify the curricula and establish more
vocational schools to help narrow the gap between the education
and industrial sectors.

"The existing education curricula must be oriented to skills
and not to certificates or titles," he said, adding that the
government should also take tough measures against private
education institutions which offered postgraduate and Ph.D.
programs for commercial purposes.

"The main problem is that many people are not financially
able to send their children to school, especially during the
economic crisis. On the other hand, many parents have managed to
send their children to university but, after graduation, they
cannot find jobs because they cannot meet the skills required,"
he said.

He added that more than 70 percent of the workforce in the
country had only completed elementary school or were dropouts.
(rms/02)