RI pupils at bottom of world class

RI pupils at bottom of world class

Agencies, Paris

Some Indonesian pupils may have won international science
competitions, but according to an OECD survey of 15-year-olds in
41 countries, Indonesian students trail behind the rest of the
pack, along with their peers from Tunisia, Brazil and Mexico.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's
PISA survey, conducted for the second time last year, measures
the knowledge of 250,000 of the world's pupils in four areas:
mathematics, science, reading comprehension and problem-solving.

The PISA (Program for International Student Assessment)
survey, which includes the world's 30 industrialized nations and
11 partner countries, including Indonesia, has also become a way
for countries to measure the effectiveness of their national
education systems.

The results of the 2003 survey, released in Paris on Monday,
showed Finnish students came in first place followed by those in
South Korea, Hong Kong and, in fourth place, Japan.

Bringing up the rear were Tunisia, Indonesia, Brazil and
Mexico (see table).

Indonesia came 38th in math and science -- out of 40 countries
on the list (the United Kingdom was not included) -- and 39th in
reading and problem-solving.

The survey is based on a series of questions that give an idea
of a student's ability to apply knowledge acquired in the
classroom to everyday life.

One issue the OECD highlighted this year was a jump in the
number of struggling students: from 4.2 percent in 2000 to 6.3
percent in 2003.

While a country's wealth, in large part, determines the
educational achievements of its pupils, this is not always the
case. South Korea's per capita gross national product is only 30
percent of the OECD average.

According to the Paris-based organization, the following are
crucial to a good education: a good relationship between students
and teachers, pupils eager to learn, an environment in which math
classes do not provoke anxiety, and constructive rules to enforce
discipline.

Girls are generally better students than boys. But the gap has
narrowed somewhat in math, the OECD found, while in reading
comprehension girls are still solidly ahead.