Two-day conference calls for decentralization of education

JAKARTA (JP): A two-day conference on education has issued a series of recommendations to help the sector recover from the crisis, including a form of decentralization that would improve management.

Experts attending the event that ended Wednesday pointed out how overlapping responsibilities for education among the education, religious affairs and home affairs ministries caused gross inefficiency.

They suggested that decentralization begin with the granting of greater authority to districts and towns to tailor education activities to their specific needs.

The conference, called "Education in Indonesia: From Crisis to Recovery", was held by the National Development Planning Board in cooperation with the World Bank.

In the proposed model of decentralization, a "new" agency in charge of managing education matters in districts or towns is needed, Jiyono, the leader of the team of experts, noted.

The new agency is to be established through a merger between local offices of the related ministries.

"The task of this 'new' agency is to develop programs of education and culture, set up targets, allocate budgets, monitor and evaluate programs and make a plan for recruitment and supervision of personnel," Jiyono said.

Some of the recent findings of the World Bank cited institutional weaknesses as constraints on the quality of basic education here, he noted.

"Government institutions in charge of primary education are rather uncoordinated," Jiyono added.

Ki Supriyoko, the team's facilitator, cited how the education ministry is responsible for subject matter, the quality of education techniques, curriculum, teachers' certification and qualifications, as well as student exams. The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for education manpower such as recruitment and appointment of teachers, as well as provision of supplies.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is responsible for religious instruction in public as well as private schools, he added.

"Such inefficiency and overlapping roles could be solved through decentralization, which uses a one-roof system such as the 'new' agency proposed for the district level," he said. "The hard part is the implementation in the field."

Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono concurred, saying that Indonesians are renowned for creating movements, but poor in implementation.

"We are very weak in running organizations, management and the operation of concepts. So a big national plan for education here is actually dependent on the people in the field," he said. (edt)