Overcoming threats to Indonesia's future prosperity

By Stephen J. Woodhouse

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs to recognize and deal effectively with a number of external and internal threats to its long term development and prosperity.

Whilst the internet revolution has produced a significant increase in global prosperity, it has also exacerbated the already rapidly growing gap between the "haves" and the "have nots", between those "in the know" and those who "don't know".

Literacy in English and in computers increasingly represents a minimum passport to individual, family, community and national prosperity. However, thus far the percent of Indonesian teenagers who possess this minimum passport is frighteningly small in comparison to the percent in most of its neighboring countries.

It will be a national tragedy indeed a deeply dangerous loss if millions of intelligent creative young Indonesians are unable to compete in the domestic and global marketplace due to a lack of English and computer skills. High educational attainment must be achieved through high intelligence and not by high income.

Currently Indonesia allocates between 8 and 9 percent of government expenditure on the education sector compared with the 16-22 percent spent by its closest neighbors Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand. Clearly money alone is not enough. It has to be spent wisely.

Teachers' salaries are far too low and a major increase in basic pay is indispensable to improving teacher morale and performance. However, morale, motivation and performance can also be (highly) cost-effectively increased if performance-related bonuses are to be introduced, for instance as a reward for a drop out free community or basic learning achievement. Similarly, sanctions for poor performance are required.

Much greater decentralization of decision making is also necessary so that headmistresses and headmasters have a greater say on what goes on in their schools. Parent Teacher Associations and other local community mechanism for "bottom-up" support and supervision need to be strengthened and teaching staff must be provided with adequate teaching aids and equipment to do their jobs.

The national curriculum is overloaded and also need to be revamped. In-service teacher training has to be expanded. Whilst all of this will greatly help Indonesia's school system to be "ready for children", the children, sadly, are not "ready for school". According to genetic potential, all six year old entering primary school should be scoring, an average, 100 IQ points, but the actual figure is 10 percent lower.

Malnutrition amongst pregnant women means that one in five Indonesian babies enter the world with a low birth weight resulting in reduced IQ in later life as well as a vastly increased risk of incurring (expensive) ill health.

The intelligent quotient of more than one in three children is further reduced owing to protein energy deficiency during the critical high brain growth period of 0-2 years. In addition, 60 percent of Indonesia's primary school age children suffer from iron deficiency anemia that reduces their concentration capacity in school. The prevalence of diarrhea -- 33 million cases amongst under five's alone every year (in Indonesia) -- also damages physical health and exacerbates malnutrition.

The prevention of these problems is fairly simple and not very costly. It involves promoting behavioral change, such as reducing husbands smoking during their wives' pregnancy thus releasing more money for improved nutrition. It involves boosting sanitation and hygiene -- a labor intensive operation suitable for Indonesia's large unemployed labor force. It involves revitalizing the Posyandu (community health clinic) system to enable early prevention and diagnosis of the problems I've just mentioned.

Above all, it requires more money -- not a lot but at least double the pitifully small current allocation to the health sector.

We don't expect all Indonesia's children to become computer wizards, but all the above would cause massive improvements in productivity for all pupils and students irrespective of their future jobs.

It is an investment that Indonesia's next government cannot afford not to make.

The writer is area representative UNICEF Indonesia and Malaysia.