Ministry sets elementary math texbooks for all schools
Ministry sets elementary math texbooks for all schools
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is requiring all elementary schools across the
country to use mathematics textbooks that have been pre-selected
by the education ministry, saying the quality of national
education must be standardized.
Indra Djati Sidi, Director General for Elementary and
Intermediate Education at the Ministry of National Education,
told reporters here on Wednesday that a set of textbooks had been
chosen by the ministry from 28 textbook sets submitted for
screening. The screening also included experts from the
University of Indonesia (UI), the Bandung Institute of Technology
(ITB) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).
One set of textbooks consists of six to 12 books for
elementary-level education, and will be published by eight
different publishers.
He said the books met the criteria for elementary education in
terms of material, presentation, language, readability and
graphics.
He did not spell out the standard criteria for elementary-
level mathematics textbooks.
Indra said schools could decide which books from the set they
wanted to use, but schools that did not choose from the eight
required textbooks would be sanctioned. He did not go into
details.
It was not made clear whether the elementary schools -- of
which there are almost 150,000 nationwide -- would be given a
chance to peruse the textbooks before making their selection.
The books, said Indra, would be distributed free of charge to
elementary students, with priority given to underprivileged
students. There are currently 30 million elementary school
students across the country.
Indra said his office would standardize more subjects next
year.
"This year, we could only standardize mathematics textbooks,
due to the limited budget," he said. The government has allocated
Rp 150 billion for the project.
In 1999, the Directorate of Elementary and Intermediate
Education, also under Indra, screened and passed one set of
English textbooks for junior high schools.
The books, printed using loans from the World Bank, were later
found to contain fundamental errors, which prompted the
government to withdraw them from schools.
The cost of withdrawing the English textbooks were provided by
the World Bank, as a separate expenditure from the initial loans.
Indra said the screening process involved independent and
professional mathematics experts from both state and private
universities as well as individuals.
He said books that failed the screening process were lacking
in concept, relevance between graphics and text and readability.
The screening evaluates textbooks according to the following
criteria: 40 percent for substance, 30 percent for presentation
and learning methods, 15 percent for readability and 15 percent
for graphics.