Thoughts for educationists

Thoughts for educationists

The government kicked off yesterday the nine-year compulsory
education program after successfully implementing the similar
six-year program during the last 10 years. The success story is
really but a significant progress for a developing country which
is trying hard to modernize itself.

However, a closer look into our education program shows that
the government for the 1994/95 budget can only afford to allocate
4.38 percent of its expenditure for the education sector. The
figure is still too small for Indonesia which has to catch up so
many things in the education field. Those involved in improving
the quality of the national education will sure face a lot of
difficulties with the budget limitation.

Like during the last decade, Indonesian's current budget for
education might still be the lowest among ASEAN countries, but
as a developing nation we also have to thank God Almighty that
the government has been able to increase it for the current Five-
Year National Development Plan -- which started last month -- by
37.93 percent compared to the previous five-year program.
Within the next five years the government will spend Rp 20.3
trillion (US$9,615 million) or Rp 4.06 trillion every year.

The newly-introduced compulsory education program will
hopefully increase the number of children attending the first
nine-year education program and reduce the number of those who
escape it by reason that their parents need their help to make
the ends meet.

Since not all the graduates of the nine-year education will
afford to further their studies until college level what the
government has to do is perhaps to increase the number of
vocational trainings and re-evaluate whether in the past these
trainings have made the graduates easier in their efforts to find
jobs. There are now 3,478 vocational schools in Indonesia
compared to 8.000 general schools but many of the 2.5 million
young men who go to the job market every year are without skill
as almost all of those sent abroad are unskilled labors like
maid servants.

However, the public is also to blame for the rapid increase of
unemployment because many parents -- for the sake of prestige --
want their children enroll into colleges without taking into
consideration whether the major their children will take will
help them find a job. This is because a university degree
represents a status symbol to many Indonesians and the trend has
the root in the vestige of the old feudal agrarian society which
is still popular here.

And last but not least, the authorities should also make a
survey on the opinion of the parents, especially of the primary
school children, to get to know whether several subjects have not
imposed as burden to their children and themselves. Many of them
have complained that subjects like the one with ideological load
such as the History of the Nation's Struggle (PSPB) needed to be
reviewed. The need has been voiced by the then minister of
education Fuad Hassan in 1986 and repeated by other educational
experts two years ago. But the complaints are still heard. They
said that due to the fact that there are so many subjects within
limited hours the less important of them have surely victimized
the more important ones while other countries have focussed on
technology.

Today's curriculum will definitely decide what kind of this
nation ours will be in the future.