Universal education will stop disintegration

By Iwan Pranoto

BANDUNG (JP): Many believe that the 1928 Generation, mostly consisting of young educated civilians, had the most important role in the nation's history. This is because in 1928 the country's founding fathers had a very progressive vision of what Indonesia should be in the future.

They declared that vision on Oct. 28, 1928, through a youth pledge, well known as Sumpah Pemuda -- One Country, One Nation, and One Language: Indonesia.

It can be imagined how hard it would be for Indonesians to write and declare the same pledge at this time. The pledge has now become an empty slogan because Indonesians can no longer state the pledge whole-heartedly.

The planned celebration of the youth pledge on Oct. 28 will be quite ironic because during the current economic and political crises, disintegration problems are threatening the unity of the republic.

The nation's unity faces challenges from some groups which have raised various aspects ranging from regional to religious and ethnic issues.

Furthermore, with reference to the mid-May rioting in Jakarta and other cities, it is difficult to believe that some Indonesians were very cruel and violent toward their own brothers and sisters. Such an incident is so contradictory to the youth pledge.

At a governmental level, many discriminatory policies are applied which give an impression that goals justify any means. Corrupt practices, therefore, can flourish in the country.

Worse still, these days so many unlawful things are happening in the country, such as looting and gang raping. The worst thing is that they happen against weak people. The popular belief saying that Indonesian people are peace-loving and tolerant becomes only a myth. What can actually be seen is just the fears on the faces of silent brothers and sisters surrounding the burned neighborhoods.

However, the majority of Indonesian people still believe in the unity of this nation. Historically, Indonesians were very tolerant. Because of their tolerance, the old kingdoms could prosper and trade boomed. Therefore, it is ironic that nowadays some of them are promoting disintegration issues.

As members of this nation, all citizens have to solve the disintegration problem together and education is the only possible and effective way to do this. Through education, they can enlighten themselves on the unity concept made by their founding fathers.

Through education, they can keep learning universal values and keep reminding themselves about their existing differences that have made their lives rich.

An educated community will create healthy surroundings, without the need for violence or intolerance.

As compared to traditional education which is provided in school buildings, the proposed universal education can be provided through a more general and informal institution.

The main mission of the institution is to create a conducive environment, provide each person with opportunities to improve their ability to reason, and to learn to live together. It will open opportunities for its members to discuss matters and learn others' interests.

This kind of environment will produce an intellectual culture facilitating an effective learning process.

However, this environment must be able to overcome space and time constraints, meaning that it must be able to reach rural areas in a short amount of time with the least amount of investment.

Such universal education for the creation of an intellectual environment has been initiated by the state-owned PT Pos Indonesia. After learning that the disintegration problem facing Indonesia is threatening, the company proposed a model called Information Society or Masyarakat Informasi (Masif ) in Bahasa Indonesia.

Using Internet facilities and other infrastructure, the company plans to enable each of the Masif members to obtain and exchange information.

The company plans for the service to be available on Oct. 28 at post offices throughout the country, ranging from provincial capitals to rural villages.

The service will initially include electronic-mail, mailing list and Internet exploring facilities.

Utilizing this service, a person residing high on Mount Jayawijaya in Irian Jaya will be able to express her/his perspective on national issues or discuss different issues raised by other members residing in various areas of the country. Thus, the environment will provide an opportunity for its people to learn differences of opinion and, at the same time, to appreciate them. It will create a climate feasible for its people to learn to be tolerant with each other and to enlighten themselves about the diversity of the nation, as well as the values of fairness, honesty, respect and trust.

If the company plans to focus its services for the intellectually strong community, other parties should look for ways to serve the intellectually weak community, which is usually considered as a submissive group that can be exploited.

Teachers at elementary schools in rural villages, who can be regarded as members of this latter community, are very often neglected under the government's development programs, even though they play a strategic role in educating children for the advancement of the future generation. In addition amounts are often deducted from their low salaries by government officials.

Actually, the future of the next generation will depend very much on such teachers. But their way of teaching is tightly controlled by the central government. The materials taught in the classrooms, for example, are chosen by the government in Jakarta. The truth of materials is monopolized by the government, while the teachers are only transferring them from books to the memories of their students.

Besides that, the teaching method is closer to a form of indoctrination and students are conditioned to memorize things, not to learn to reason. As a matter of fact, this is actually one of the reasons why most Indonesian university students and other society members nowadays are only submissive listeners, not critical thinkers and creative learners.

For a better future, teachers must be promoted as agents of change because they can absorb new information and convey it to their students.

The information obtained by a teacher can be distributed to more than 50 students easily. It will indeed be a strategic step for the building of the nation if services are provided that would encourage teachers to expand their knowledge.

Utilizing such services, teachers residing in rural villages can learn to improve their teaching processes to make their students learn more effectively.

The writer is a math lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology.