P4 course for students suspended

P4 course for students suspended

SEMARANG (JP): The Ministry of Education and Culture has
abolished the requirement for university students to attend
Pancasila propagation (P4) courses in the 1998/1999 academic
year.

Director for Student Affairs Soedarmadi said here yesterday
that the efficacy and necessity of the program, a mandatory
requirement for university entrants, would be re-evaluated.

"The decision has been taken because the program's method and
substance are currently being reevaluated," Soedarmadi told
reporters.

He said the ministry had sent a letter to all rectors
informing them of the decision.

However he asserted that the Pancasila subject would still be
included as part of the curriculum, but now students are will not
be asked the Pancasila propagation course as a prerequisite for
graduation.

Soedarmadi added that the ministry was now looking into the
possibility of integrating the elements of the propagation and
upgrading course be incorporated into the Pancasila subjects
taken by the students.

A number of universities have reportedly decided to stop
teaching the propagation course under their own initiative,
including Indonesian Islamic University in Yogyakarta.

Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Mentors
Mungin Edy Wibowo expressed his support for the decision and said
the course was sheer indoctrination and a complete waste of
resources.

"It is really nothing more than a a waste of money because all
students, from junior high school to university, study the same
material," Mungin, who also lectures at Semarang Teachers
Training Institute, said.

He contended that funds for the course could be more useful if
channeled into student extra-curricular activities and the
procurement of educational materials.

Mungin said that Pancasila should be retained as subject
matter in universities, but urged that it be taught in a more
philosophically oriented course.

New York-based Human Rights Watch aired objections to the
course last week and called on the government to abolish it.

The course was introduced in 1984 by the late minister of
education and culture Nugroho Notosusanto. It takes up the first
two weeks of the student initiation period.

A special body exists to oversee the propagation of Pancasila.

The Agency for Pancasila Propagation has been repeatedly
advised to invigorate the course methodology, which features
hours of dry lectures.

There is a widely held perception among the public at large
that the propagation courses are generally boring and
uninspiring.

Indonesians in all spheres of life, from Junior High School
students to senior government officials, are obliged to take the
course. (har)