University enrollment should be restricted, says observer

JAKARTA (JP): To help cut down on unemployment, education observer J. Drost suggested that university enrollment should be limited to highly qualified high school graduates only.

"With such restrictions, our graduates will become highly qualified. It will also help to reduce the number of unemployed in this country," J. Drost told The Jakarta Post recently.

Recent data shows that the number of unemployed in this country is a staggering 37 million.

Those who do not make it into university, Drost said, can go to vocational school.

"Therefore the government should pay more attention to vocational education," he added.

Drost also pointed out the importance of an educational system for students with varying levels of scholastic ability.

"That is a very important matter that has been left untouched. It is aimed at optimizing students' ability," he said.

However education observer Mochtar Buchori said that university should be for everyone as the country still lacks qualified manpower and human resources.

"It is up to us to choose whether university is aimed at only producing elites and intellectuals or not," he told the Post.

"But under our country's conditions, I think we have to be realistic. We need to produce graduates who will also hold lower positions in government departments or technical workers for example. So, university should be for everyone. Of course, they have to get through a selection process first," he added.

Similar with Drost, Mochtar also emphasized the importance of schools for different aptitudes.

"But we have to design the program properly. The existing model school for highly intelligent students are snobbish," he said.

The graduates of such schools, he added, are snobs who purposively exclude themselves from society. (hdn)