Quality main concern of education

Syamsir Alam, Academic Coordinator, Al Azhar International Education Center (ARIEC), Jakarta

A draft of the revised version of the education law, which was submitted to the legislature last month, indicates the pivotal role of government as both the regulating and implementing agency in education -- despite the policy of decentralization to the regions.

One of the goals of education on the part of the government is education for all, for both rich and poor. Another is appropriate quality standards in relation to teaching, the school environment, child safety, the curriculum, and educational outcomes.

A third goal regards "agency concerns", that is, to ensure that sound educational decisions are made and that parents act in the best interests of their children.

A fourth goal is that public resources are carefully used so that the broad social and economic benefits of having a well- educated community are realized -- social and economic concerns.

The issue of accessibility was a major concern during the New Order period. In the early 1970s, the government gave particular attention to the development of the education sector. A lot of new schools and teaching-learning facilities were built. New teachers were appointed. Curricula and new teaching techniques were introduced at all levels of education.

Within less than a decade, school buildings and the teaching- learning process of primary and secondary education became commonplace all around the country. Primary and secondary education came to be no longer considered as something for the elite alone.

Yet the level of participation was still low, especially among poor families. The government launched a program of mandatory education to get all children from 7 to 12 into the schools. The result was a much higher percentage of children attending school.

Yet graduates were not able to meet the standards required by the job market and/or higher learning institutes.

The outcomes of the expansive educational program, however, failed to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders, like parents, users and society at large.

So despite 15 years of the compulsory education program, public schools remain the subject of much criticism. The Indonesian educational system has failed to provide children of different social and economic backgrounds with the same standard of education. So far the education system is still biased toward well-to-do families.

Public schools of high quality at any level under the current recruitment system will be more likely to admit children from rich families who have a much better learning environment.

Ironically, the children and families of the poor who are less likely to be admitted to public schools have higher expectations of the schools. They rely so much on the school system to make them become well-informed and knowledgeable citizens. They expect the school system will be able to change their socio-economic status by providing them with adequate knowledge, information and skills.

To the government and school administrators, the selection system used thus far is considered fair and just. But we have yet to see the children of both rich and poor families studying together, particularly in public schools.

Thereby, the expectations of upward mobility among the poor will not materialize any time soon. A supposedly "fair" examination system has unwittingly created a social gap where the poor mostly get poorer grades, given the lower quality of education they are exposed to.

Quality improvement has now become the primary focus of the Ministry of Education, the importance of which was highlighted more than a decade ago in a ministry policy paper.

With the support of millions of dollars from the World Bank, the quality of teachers and educational facilities has been improved, likewise the examination system.

Thousands of teachers have been trained locally, nationally, and internationally through the strengthening and improvement of teacher quality program, familiarly known as the PKG (Pemantapan Kerja Guru). In fact, some teachers are now given the opportunity to pursue their studies to master's degree level both at home and abroad.

However, teachers are still not succeeding in improving education. The average grades in the five main subjects: mathematics, languages (Indonesian and English), and the sciences (physics and biology), as tested by the national examinations is still considered unsatisfactory.

Educational management is also considered important. The government through this program has trained hundreds of school and provincial office administrators. They are expected to serve the needs of change in the education sector. However, this program has failed to produce administrators capable of creating an atmosphere where educational change can prevail.

The school administrators have not been able to accommodate the needs of change within the school community system. Therefore, it is not surprising to see that the way they manage schools and classes is more or less the same as it was years ago.

The examination system is also considered crucial in improving educational quality. Between 1989 and 1993, more than US$12 million was allocated for this program alone.

The government focused its work in this program on strengthening and improving the quality of examination officers at the provincial level and building up the item banking system at the Examination Development Center (EDC) in Jakarta.

This program had been running for decades; however, we have been unable to strengthen the provincial offices and find the right examination system for the country. The last attempt resulted in only three subjects being tested.

In all, the attempts at improvement undertaken so far have been frustrating for educators. For more than 50 years now, the final examinations have been administered by an ad hoc committee. A permanent body that functions as an external examination institute is still only wishful thinking.