Mon, 25 Aug 2003

New textbook policy prone to corruption

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts warned on Sunday of possible corruption and collusion between officials and book publishers following the education ministry's decision to require some 150,000 elementary schools across the country to choose one of eight textbooks it has designated.

Education expert Winarno Surahmat said it was normal if people were suspicious about the government's decision to designate eight textbook publishers out of 28 publishers for the provision of mathematics textbooks.

"The government should not force schools to use any books given the current policy of school autonomy. It must focus on formulating a good curriculum, and setting the criteria for publishers to produce good books for their students," Winarno told The Jakarta Post.

"By requiring all schools to select a book from one of the eight appointed book publishers, the government has raised public suspicions about the possibility of hidden interests being behind its decision," he added.

According to Winarno, there is in fact a large number of local book publishers that produce and sell poor quality textbooks to schools. Nevertheless, the government should avoid using such a centralized approach.

"It would be better if the government held a writing competition for teachers to write high quality textbooks.

"The results of this competition could be used as a reference for schools to selecting the best textbooks for their students, but not by obliging schools to purchase certain books without clear criteria being applied," he said.

In other countries, he said, the governments only established textbook standards, and let schools choose the most appropriate textbook for their students.

Director General for Elementary and Intermediate Education Indra Djati Sidi said earlier that the government would require all elementary schools to use mathematics textbooks that had been selected by the education ministry.

The eight appointed publishers were Citra Aji Parama, Ganeca Exact, Grafindo Media Pratama, Intan Pariwara, Regina, Remaja Rosda Karya, Setia Purna Inves, and Yudhistira.

The government has argued that the new policy is necessary to ensure standardization in national education.

Besides obliging schools to select one of the eight appointed book publishers, the government is also requiring schools to purchase the textbook in bookstores.

This measure, according to the government, would avoid teachers receiving commissions from publishers where the textbooks are purchased directly from the publishers.

The government also said the textbooks would be free for students, and has allocated a total of Rp 150 billion (US$17.6 million) for textbook procurement.

But there is a growing suspicion that the new procurement policy will only convert the collusion between teachers and publishers to collusion between government officials and publishers.

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.

Meanwhile, Mochtar Buchori, a member of the House of Representatives' education commission, agreed that collusion between teachers and publishers in the procurement of textbooks must be stopped.

But, he hoped that the new policy would not serve to merely open up new opportunities for corruption.