Setting the course for reform in national education

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Of the many fields the nation needs to reform, education is one of the most urgent. Few, however, have clear answers when asked over the course of its reforms, experts said.

They blamed national education goals that lacked focus and haphazard reform efforts for this.

"It looks as if we have enough regulations, but they stay as regulations and never embody or become norms that realize the vision of our education system," said Sujipto, a lecturer in the faculty of education at the Jakarta State University, speaking during a seminar organized by the Indonesian Teachers' Union (PGRI) on Tuesday.

His questioned the effectiveness of the 1989 education law, and the purposes it set out for national education.

"Remember, we once had education (systems) like humaniora, link and match, the dual system, and so on, and all the while the law remained the same," he said, pointing to the ongoing debate over which education system suited the country best.

Since 1998, the country's education system has undergone changes which, given their magnitude, should have required a new education law. The fact that they did not is because of the law's loose definition of national education goals.

The very wording of Chapter 4 of the 1989 education law, which sets out the goals of education, exemplifies the problem.

"National Education aims at enlightening the nation's life, and ensuring the overall development of human beings as persons of faith and piety towards God Almighty, of knowledge and skills, of physical and mental health, of sound and independent character, and of responsibility towards the people and the nation."

This complexity is compounded in the draft of the newer version, with knowledge of the arts and technology being added to the list of achievements of the ideal, educated Indonesian.

The new draft is in part the creation of the National Education Commission -- a body the government established to garner input from the public and help write a new education law.

But by adopting a looser definition rather than a tighter one, it is clear that the differences over the future of education reform are still too great to enable a focused target to be fleshed out.

This may result in renewed attempts to change the education system in ways that may not violate the law but nonetheless entail far-reaching consequences.

More often than not, such changes are tailored to the government of the day's political goals.

Over 30 years of Soeharto rule resulted in an education system that, observers say, produced submissive students who would pursue their careers successfully without questioning the political establishment.

Soeharto's downfall in 1998 paved the way for German graduate B.J. Habibie to take over the reins of power. The technocrat, who once held high positions in top German companies, championed the so-called link and match system -- a German-style approach to education.

Under this system, state school students follow courses that are designed to meet the demands of industry, thus increasing both employment and the productivity of German firms.

Here, however, the idea never really caught on due in part to opposition from experts, who cited glaring differences between Germany and Indonesia's employment structures.

Sujipto called for a more specific vision on education.

"We must possess a platform based on the value of the scenario we want to achieve and an evaluation of our present state," he explained.

According to Sujipto, such a platform had to define the norms for education policies, explain the qualities that should be aimed for, and provide direction so that they could be achieved.

The inability to create an education system based upon the true "Indonesian spirit" stemmed from the absence of such a grand strategy, he said.

Too much input from the public could also, however, complicate the creation of clear targets for the national education system.

"I've always said that we should give the Ministry of Education, and its minister, the chance to complete their work without interference in the form of all kinds of opinions and suggestions," former education minister Fuad Hassan said.

The government, he said, received plenty of input and during his time in charge of the Ministry of Education he had ensured that they this was made use of. Fuad was the National Education Commission's chairman until last year.

According to Fuad, despite all the talk about the national education system, it was the teachers who played the decisive role in determining the quality of the education provided to the country's youth.