Schools reluctant to comply with education bill

Schools reluctant to comply with education bill

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although born to a Muslim family, Hari, 25, spent six years of
his studying time at a Catholic school. His parents enrolled him
and signed agreements with the school, accepting several
conditions, including the requirement to attend Catholic
religious instruction during his time there.

"My parents thought the school was the best in town," he says.
"Unlike these days, Catholic schools did not have any competition
from state or other private schools back then."

Hari is just one of perhaps thousands of Indonesian Muslims
who studied at a Catholic school, which for many years had the
highest reputation for a good education.

Catholic schools require students of other religions to attend
classes on Catholic instruction only.

At Tarakanita Catholic school, for example, students have to
attend Catholic lessons, pray before and after class, participate
in school retreats and several other spiritual activities.

"I think every citizen has the right to choose where to study.
So we do not restrict our schools to Catholic students only.
However, as our schools are special, we provide only Catholic
classes for religious instruction," Sarta Ketut, head of the
education department of the Jakarta-based Tarakanita Foundation,
told The Jakarta Post.

The Tarakanita Foundation manages several Catholic schools in
seven regions in the country.

Islamic schools are also doing the same thing. The Al Azhar
High School in South Jakarta, one of the best schools in town,
requires non-Muslim students to attend Islamic lessons, including
Koran recitals.

"At present, we don't have any non-Muslim students. But
several years ago, we had two Christian students," Edy Junaedi,
the principal of the school, said.

"Before they enrolled we explained that Al Azhar was a special
school that did not provide lessons on any religion other than
Islam. We asked them to sign an agreement, and they accepted it."

Such a practice, however, may soon come to an end. The House
of Representatives is currently deliberating a national education
bill that is expected to be endorsed in May. Article 13 of the
bill stipulates that all students have the right to receive
religious instruction according to their beliefs from teachers of
the same faith.

As a consequence, all religion-based schools that open their
classes to students of other faiths will have to provide
additional teachers of religion.

But religion-based schools like Tarakanita and Al Azhar are
reluctant to implement the stipulation, arguing the move would
obscure the original mission of the schools.

"Tarakanita school accepts the government-prescribed national
curriculum, but as a private school we have traditions and a
uniqueness. So we modify it according to our traditions," Ketut
said.

Edy did not voice any objection to the bill, although he said
hiring teachers to teach only a few non-Muslim students would
prove inefficient.

"It would be better for them to find religious instruction
outside Al Azhar and they could submit their grades to us," he
said. "Or they could pay their own teachers of religion in the
school."

According to Ketut, experts behind the bill misunderstand the
concept of education. "Schools and teachers are not the only ones
responsible for the education of children. Families and society
also contribute greatly to that," he said. He said families were
the most responsible for religious instruction.

Hari appears to prove his theory, for although he spent six
years learning about the Catholic religion, he viewed the classes
as history lessons. "At that time I took private Islamic lessons
at a mosque near my home. After all, it is my family who forged
my faith," he said.