National education draft bill 'has no soul'

National education draft bill 'has no soul'

Criticisms and polemic on the draft national education bill
have been on the rise. At the end of the deliberation process, a
demonstration took place demanding that the House of
Representatives delay its decision to deliberate the draft bill
into law.

Tuesday's demonstration involved some 2,000 people, comprising
teachers, students' parents and members of the Masyarakat
Pemerhati Pendidikan Nasional as well as supporters of the
Indonesian Catholic Democratic Party.

Strong opposition to point 1a of Article 13 - which gives
students the right to receive religious instruction according to
their faith from teachers who are of the same religion - was
voiced by the Christian and Catholic Educational Councils.

The question is why was the draft bill opposed? The answer is
clear: The draft bill has no clear paradigm, but has too strong a
religious content. The entire draft bill is full of religious
content, yet heterogeneity in religion is an undeniable fact of
life in this country.

Article 4, on the objectives of (national) education, contains
a very strong religious message, despite the fact that the
objective of education is to produce better educated and more
intelligent citizens.

The draft bill fails to distinguish between educational
institutions, which are entitled to develop science, and places
of worship.

The bill also fails to clearly portray the real ideology of
national education. Point 6 of Article 5, which says that
education should be organized on a basis of public autonomy and
accountability and a guarantee of quality, sounds very
materialistic.

Given that the drift bill contains articles that could spark
controversy, many parties have suggested that the House should
not rush to pass it into law. Mistakes in educational programs
and legislation could damage the life of the whole country.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta