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)