The dilemma with compulsory education

The dilemma with compulsory education

Darmaningtyas, Center for the Betterment of Education,
Jakarta

The nine-year compulsory education program was launched in
1994 with optimism that it would be fully implemented by 2004.
Several indicators supported that optimism, such as the country's
high economic growth rate, the government's financial capacity
and the spirit of other stakeholders.

However, the economic crisis that struck in July 1997 ended up
as a multicrisis. As a result, all parties, including the
government, were uncertain about when the program would be
implemented. The World Bank, which only focuses on macro-aspects,
was incapable of predicting real conditions, while the
communities involved were just ignored.

Now under the sway of regional autonomy, the nine-year
compulsory education program is becoming ever more problematic,
with a questionable future as the central government and regional
administrations shirk their responsibilities.

No clear division of authority has been drawn up to determine
which party is most accountable for the completion of this
program: the central government or the regions. The central
government always claims it has turned over educational affairs
to the regions, through the General Allocation Fund (DAU) it
provides. The regions keep complaining about the DAU, describing
it as too small to finance education.

The various issues now accumulating could further worsen the
national education system, and unless these issues are promptly
dealt with the nine-year compulsory education program could
become trapped in limbo.

These issues include the numerous damaged elementary school
buildings, teacher shortages, limited facilities and a dwindling
public capacity and willingness to finance education. Conversely,
some state primary schools and private secondary schools are
closed due to enrollment downturns.

These issues are playing out all over the country, in both
rural and urban areas. The root cause of this educational
quandary lies in bureaucracy and funding.

Buildings are the biggest issue, with no less than half of the
primary schools (SDs) in Indonesia being damaged in various
degrees of severity.

Based on research on elementary education in Madura, with the
support of the aid organization Oxfam GB, the situation on this
East Java island may reflect the general situation of basic
education outside Java.

Administratively, Madura belongs to the territory of East
Java, with Surabaya, the second largest city in the country, the
provincial capital. Yet Madura's primary education is no better
than that in other regions, with poor participation and
achievements, poor infrastructure and facilities, and a
considerable scarcity of teachers.

Crumbling school buildings, acknowledged by local executive
and legislative officials, can be found in Bangkalan regency,
where 15 percent to 20 percent, or 101 to 135 of 678 primary
schools, have collapsed. Repairing these buildings would cost
over Rp 100 million, and the local administration can only repair
five to seven primary schools a year.

In Sampang regency, 400 of 589 primary school buildings are
damaged and 80 other schools now have no buildings, forcing
schoolchildren to attend classes in villagers' homes or mosques;
in Pamekasan regency, 40 percent of schools are severely damaged.

In all, ruined school buildings are easier to find than well
maintained ones.

Sampang has sustained the most neglect because its political
leaders have been in constant conflict, leading to neglect in
educational matters. Meanwhile, Sampang is Madura's regency with
the greatest number of refugees from Sampit, thereby increasing
its socio-economic burden.

Madura also faces a shortage of teachers, with many primary
schools having only three to four plus a school principal.
Ideally, one primary school should have six teachers, two more
teachers for religion and sports, a principal and an errand boy,
totaling 10 staff members in all.

In one public elementary school in Pancur, Ketapang, Sampang
regency, a lack of teachers has led to a delivery man joining the
teaching staff.

The poor condition of buildings and the scarcity of teachers
have prompted locals to send their children to Islamic schools,
or madrasah. But the educational quality in the madrasah is not
far different because of limited facilities, which force children
to write on classroom floors. And most of the teachers are
secondary school graduates, thus failing to meet the
qualifications for the primary level of madrasah.

But teachers at this level are adequate and observe
discipline, in contrast to those at public elementary schools.
However, the level of general knowledge is higher in public
schools, given the greater weight placed on religious education
in Madura's madrasah.