Teachers, schools 'failing students'

Teachers, schools 'failing students'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Students at religious and private schools fared worse in the
national examinations than their state-school counterparts, while
the low quality of teachers nationwide is cause for concern, an
official says.

Ministry of National Education research and development agency
head Mansyur Ramly said the latest national exam results had
given the ministry a useful map of how schools across the country
had performed.

In general, the failure rates tended to be higher in religious
schools than state schools. "It is also higher in private schools
compared to state schools," Mansyur said.

Mansyur said that the highest failure rates were found in
conflict areas and underdeveloped provinces, with rates the worst
in tsunami-stricken Aceh, which has also had also been wracked by
decades of separatist war.

Mansyur said poor teacher quality was also an important reason
why students were failing.

Ministry director-general of human resources development Fasli
Djalal said that only between 10 and 20 percent of teachers had
scored above average in recent competency tests held by the
ministry.

"All regions have already started evaluating their teachers'
competence," he said, adding that the evaluation process had so
far covered only 10 percent of teachers nationwide.

Fasli said the new national regulations on teachers'
qualifications would gradually increase standards.

"The minimum requirements for new teachers will be the D4
(university diploma-level) or S1 (university degree-level)
graduates with an additional 38 to 40 credits in a professional
subject."

He said the country currently had few primary and secondary
teachers that met the criteria. It would take 15 years to
gradually improve existing teachers' competence through training,
he said, meaning students would have to make do in the meantime.

Increased pass-rate requirements set by the ministry have
meant failure rates in the national junior and senior high school
examinations have doubled this year, denying more students the
chance to continue their studies.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Friday the examination pass
rates showed up the failings of the education sector. However, a
nation could only move forward if it was honest about its
educational quality, he said.

It would take a concerted effort to improve the system, Kalla
said. "We do not want to mistreat students, but we encourage
them, as well as parents, teachers and local administrations to
work harder."

Some education experts have opposed the idea of measuring
students' competency through centralized national examinations.

"Higher standards can be set after all the conditions are
met," education activist Yanti Muchtar said. "Those (conditions)
are competent teachers, sufficient infrastructure and
contextuality to local conditions."

It would have been better for the schools to decide whether
their students should pass, Yanti said.

"Logically, they are the ones who know best about their
students' ability and progress." (003)