Reforming the RI educational system

Reforming the RI educational system

Werner Kiby, Entrepreneur, Bali

In an increasingly globalized world, Indonesian students and
workers must meet international levels of education and labor
skills. Even international schools around Indonesia seem to lack
consideration that students must improve their knowledge in a
world which is more and more dominated by information
technologies, multilingual communication and international
cooperation. Yet the situation is far worse for Indonesians.

The Jakarta Post recently cited a comment by Dyah
Paramawartiningsih, head of the research center at the Ministry
of Manpower and Transmigration, that many university graduates,
even with PhDs, are not yet ready to meet simple standards
because they are neither able to communicate fluently at least in
English nor to use computers efficiently.

Reforming education would first have to take into account how
Indonesians are educated. Even if someone appreciates the often
cited discipline of Indonesian students and their respect for
teachers and parents, this obedience may hinder in the long run
the creation of self-motivated and self-confident students who
are able to become decision-makers and leaders of new opinions.

Further, most Indonesian students (and teachers) lack a
realistic approach to the demands of working life, and the needs
and consequences, for their ongoing education and skills.
The main requirements are: Teamwork, no work without a plan,
ability to cope with stress, punctuality, responsibility,
flexibility, honesty, diligence, a clean environment in and
outside the place of work or study, knowledge of foreign
mentalities, and openness for self-criticism, and even strong
criticism, by others.

Teachers lack solid education in their subjects, working
experience and communication competence at least in English and
computer skills.

It also seems that in all subjects taught in the schools,
theory overwhelms practice, which may be one reason why students
and teachers often are unmotivated to fulfill their duties.

The public schools and universities in Indonesia are not
sufficiently equipped with the facilities to meet national and
international challenges. Beside qualified and fairly paid
teachers they need at least language training and computer
centers. If the school system here does not begin to provide this
minimum on conditions things will keep going on as usual, which
means worse.

And when the more lucky students apply, after graduating, for
further training in one of the professional centers to achieve
international certifications, they are not well prepared to
succeed. This compounds the financial problems and the enormous
restrictions caused by the Indonesian bureaucracy.

Things are already much worse now with the economic crisis and
sharply rising figures of unemployed people in Indonesia --
including citizens or residents from foreign countries.

Unemployment was last esimated at 40 million, which will
likely soon increase. Meanwhile the number of the growing number
of jobless foreign residents all around the country, and the
number of their children who need qualified skills, is still
unclear.

Most of them are children from bi-national marriages, half
Indonesians, half Westerners, from all countries of Europe and
the United States, either with a foreign or a Indonesian
passport.

Their parents once had their own business or had been hired
mostly by foreign companies which closed their doors due to the
crisis. Yet they have decided to live for a long period, if not
forever in Indonesia, despite the growing difficulties.

Indonesia may face a similar problem like Germany -- if it is
not willing to deal with the fact of immigrants, legal or
illegal. And of course Indonesia will not be able to provide any
help to integrate or give financial support to this growing
foreign community. They are forced to help themselves find
adequate schools and jobs.

These foreign residents are going to compete for the remaining
jobs in Indonesia with the lower educated Indonesians.

Indonesia faces another challenge: It signed in 2001 an
international agreement to liberalize the labor market and to
open it to highly educated foreign applicants.

According to The Jakarta Post, in Indonesia only some 4
percent of the total labor force (over 97 million people) are
working as professionals and managers. But even these highly
educated workers are not ready to compete with foreign
professionals and managers.

Hence the response cannot be more protectionism against
foreign workers, as suggested by some analysts who propose to
delay the liberalization of the labor market.

Indonesia should instead open the country for more foreigners
with high education and working skills. If Indonesians want to
compete with foreigners in all fields of skills and work like
language and communication competence, information technology,
industrial production and professional management, then they must
cooperate with foreigners and utilize them until Indonesians are
equal to or even better than their teachers.

A crisis always generates new opportunities -- and now there
is a big opportunity for Indonesians and parts of the residents,
to create a new model of school education, closer to the real
world and to international levels. They could be run by
Indonesians and foreigners together for mutual benefit.

To convince the authorities one would firstly need to tell
them how to finance these schools and secondly to secure the jobs
of legions of employees in the education field.

But as there are thousands of schools and universities not
used during 12 hours to 16 hours every day, facilities could
fairly easily be provided for new schools. Officials have said
that every second school in some islands should be used for other
purposes or else they should be demolished due to the lack of
teachers and money!

There are also thousands (or more) jobless or miserably paid
teachers and maybe the same number of demotivated employees
across the whole education field. There should be enough
resources to recruit the best of them as staff for appropriate
schools.

Quite a lot of teachers could also be recruited from the
foreign communities on each island as there are probably many who
would really wish to contribute to their culture, knowledge and
experiences to Indonesian hosts and their own families -- paid or
unpaid.

And there could be many volunteers and trainee teachers in
work experience programs from abroad to support and enrich
school projects by giving them the possibility to join an
international team, face new challenges -- and live a while in an
exotic country.

The writer earlier taught literature and philosophy at a
German College.