Outclassed again
Outclassed again
It would probably not be quite correct to say that the
findings of a survey conducted by the Third Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) of 38 of its members and published in this
newspaper yesterday comes as much of a surprise to most
Indonesians.
Over the span of several decades, Indonesians seem to have
become used to seeing survey reports on education ranking their
country far below others in terms of student performance in
either creativity, science or mathematics.
Nevertheless, it is sad to see from the TIMSS listing that so
little has over the years been achieved in improving the standard
of education in this country. Compare, for example, the
performance of countries such as Singapore, Korea and Taiwan.
In the field of mathematics, Singapore tops the list of the 38
member countries surveyed, followed by Korea in second and Taiwan
in third place. In science, Taiwan ranks first, with Singapore
and Korea coming in second and fifth place.
Indonesia, on the other hand, ranks 34th and 32nd in both
fields, respectively -- better only than Chile, the Philippines,
Morocco and South Africa in the mathematics rankings and Turkey,
Tunisia, Chile, the Philippines, Morocco and South Africa in
science.
The obvious question is, why so? To judge by the respectable
performance many Indonesian students seem to be able to score in
colleges and universities, the TIMSS findings would appear to
indicate that some very basic shortcomings exist in our education
system here at home.
Over the years, educators in this country have aired a number
complaints about what seems to be burdening this system. First,
the curriculum in Indonesian schools from the elementary level up
to the junior and senior secondary levels is overburdened with
subject that are "assigned" to the system by various government
departments other than that of national education.
The often overlapping subjects of civics, history and the
state ideology Pancasila are cases in point. As a result,
students are overburdened with a curriculum that is too heavy for
them to absorb. To address this problem, the Minister of National
Education, Yahya Muhaimin, has pledged to place basic science,
the English language and mathematics at the core of elementary
and secondary education while reducing the priority of subjects
such as civics.
However, all plans for an improved curriculum and all good
intentions must ultimately end in failure unless a genuine
awareness exists at the top levels of our decision-making elite
of the importance of a good and well-planned development of this
country's human resources. It is therefore encouraging to learn
that the allocation for education in the 2001 state budget has
been raised, even if only by some 2.1 percent, from the initial
Rp 11.3 trillion.
Too much emphasis has in the past been laid on statistics. The
number of school buildings built, or the number of students
enrolled in schools, was often touted as yardsticks of the great
progress made in education under the previous New Order regime.
It must be clear, however, that while quantity has its merits,
quantity without quality, as Minister Yahya remarked, leaves
little to be proud about.
The TIMSS findings should make it abundantly clear that a
sense of urgency is needed to bring about the kind of drastic
improvement in our education system that this country needs. That
means not only putting the necessary funds available, but also
improving the system's management and the curriculum to meet the
needs of the present. Unless this is done, Indonesia could find
itself left even further behind others in a world in which
science and technology play an increasingly vital role.