No school principal?
No school principal?
Of the one thousand elementary schools in Bandung, two hundred
are without a principal. "This is serious and quite disturbing,"
said Kusmeni Hartadi, as reported in Pikiran Rakyat on May 20,
2000. Furthermore, it was rumored that to get the post of school
principal a Rp 5 million fee was required. Awan Gumelar, head of
the Education and Culture Office in Bandung is determined to
fight against such graft.
Reacting to this issue, I wish to stress the importance of
boosting education in our country. An educator, Paulo-Freire, in
his 1970 book Pedagogy of the oppressed describes those who
educate as the oppressors and those who are educated as the
oppressed. This means that if we devote ourselves to schools or
education we are deemed as heroes as we struggle to help the
oppressed.
Being educated means being free, and freedom is acquired by
conquest, not by gift, says Freire. In this regard, it is sad
that in Bandung some two hundred elementary schools have been
operating without their administrators for the last six months.
Note that if such a thing becomes widespread, it means that our
future generation will fall into the oppressed category.
Hence, I appeal to the education authorities to rapidly handle
such a setback. Note that the younger generation today will be
the nation's leaders in the future. This is too indispensable to
downplay.
ODO FADLOELI
Cimahi, West Java
Of the one thousand elementary schools in Bandung, two hundred
are without a principal. "This is serious and quite disturbing,"
said Kusmeni Hartadi, as reported in Pikiran Rakyat on May 20,
2000. Furthermore, it was rumored that to get the post of school
principal a Rp 5 million fee was required. Awan Gumelar, head of
the Education and Culture Office in Bandung is determined to
fight against such graft.
Reacting to this issue, I wish to stress the importance of
boosting education in our country. An educator, Paulo-Freire, in
his 1970 book Pedagogy of the oppressed describes those who
educate as the oppressors and those who are educated as the
oppressed. This means that if we devote ourselves to schools or
education we are deemed as heroes as we struggle to help the
oppressed.
Being educated means being free, and freedom is acquired by
conquest, not by gift, says Freire. In this regard, it is sad
that in Bandung some two hundred elementary schools have been
operating without their administrators for the last six months.
Note that if such a thing becomes widespread, it means that our
future generation will fall into the oppressed category.
Hence, I appeal to the education authorities to rapidly handle
such a setback. Note that the younger generation today will be
the nation's leaders in the future. This is too indispensable to
downplay.
ODO FADLOELI
Cimahi, West Java