Wardiman blasted for plan to regulate private colleges

JAKARTA (JP): House members yesterday criticized Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro for his plan to regulate the management of private universities.

They said a new decree now being drafted gives the government too much power to interfere in the internal affairs of the universities.

Abdul Choliq Murod from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Umroh Muchfudhoh from the United Development Party (PPP) during a hearing with Wardiman cautioned that the plan should be well thought through before it is implemented.

"It should be announced to the public in detail to prevent any disadvantages on their part," said Umroh.

"Private universities need government support but they have to maintain their independence too," Choliq added.

A draft of the decree which has been circulating in public has sparked criticism from university administrators.

Wardiman made the draft available to the public to encourage discourse before he finalizes the regulation.

Yesterday, he defended the decree's objective which is to protect students who pay large sums of money to study at private universities.

The decree would provide universities with more information on the current supply and demand market of the country's labor force, thus coinciding with the government's "link and match" program which prevents an oversupply of graduates originating from a particular field.

Wardiman said the decree would also improve the quality of private universities, which outnumber state universities by 1,100 to 49.

In the past year, a number of leading private universities have experienced internal problems, mostly over the selection of rectors, often at the expense of the students. The decree, if passed, would allow for government intervention.

Wardiman said the decree, which is still in the making, would continue to involve public input including from BM-PTSI, the forum of private universities.

The forum last month hailed the government's plan, saying that after in-depth studies, it found no indications of the government's interference in the universities' internal affairs.

BM-PTSI Chairman Moeslim Tahir said the decree intends to set the parameters for national education and "that's entirely the right of the government."

In praise of the move, he acknowledged that this is the first time that the government has invited the forum to discuss a planned decree.

Five-day school

The hearing also discussed try-outs of the five-day school week and possibilities of its implementation in the future.

Z.A. Achmady, Director General for Elementary and Middle Education, said the government would not push schools to participate in the try-out programs.

Each school has the last word on whether or not it could implement the five-day week.

"I understand we still face many technical problems and we are not accustomed to such a system, but we will go on with the try- outs," he said.

Among the problems, he said, is the fact that many schools, due to a lack of school buildings, have to run under morning and afternoon shifts.

Extra expenses for lunch money and possibly transportation, as well as seeking appropriate activities for the extra weekday, were other problems which had to be resolved.

"In the future, we may end up with several schools having five-day school weeks and others with six-day weeks," he pointed out.(pwn)