Rote blamed for poor students

Rote blamed for poor students

DENPASAR: About half of all fourth-year elementary school
students in several provinces cannot write stories, a World Bank
consultant said.

Antara reported that Stuart Weston was referring Monday to
fourth-year students in six provinces under the Primary Education
Quality Improvement Project supported by the Bank, but it did not
mention the provinces.

Weston, a former school principal in Britain, blamed the
condition on the widely criticized rote learning system here.

It was better for the education system to shift orientation to
learning by doing instead of "learning by learning", the agency
quoted him as saying.

He said funds for the project so far was used to buy audio
visual equipment, but in the future funds would be used for more
useful items, he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the
program here.

"What they (students) need are ... stationary, books and
rulers," he said.

However he said the project had been successful.

The secretary-general of Elementary and Secondary Education at
the Ministry of Education and Culture, Indra Djati Sidi, also
said the project had succeeded, but the agency did not
elaborate.

Indra said training for teachers should continue.