Wardiman says lack of schools hinders education
Wardiman says lack of schools hinders education
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro identified a number of problems besetting national education last year, including the shortage of classrooms and facilities.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Wardiman said six- million children could not attend junior high school due to the shortage of school buildings. In addition, one million children could not enter elementary schools for the same reason, he said.
Wardiman pledged that the government would work hard so that by the end of the next three Five-year Development Plan periods there would be schools available to all children.
President Soeharto launched the Nine-Year Compulsory Schooling scheme in May 1994. The program is considered rather ambitious because there aren't enough schools or teachers in Indonesia to serve the students.
The government, however, was optimistic that the program would succeed as did the Six-year Compulsory Schooling scheme launched in 1984.
Yesterday, Wardiman detailed various education problems arising from the school building shortage. Because one classroom has to accommodate around 40 students, rather than the ideal number of 25, teachers are often unable to give children enough attention during the learning process.
Wardiman acknowledged that there were other conditions which prevented teachers from giving students their full attention. Among the factors were the teachers' notoriously low salaries.
"Teachers often have to moonlight, taking other jobs besides teaching, in order to support their families," Wardiman said.
Looking ahead, Wardiman said he expected to see an increase this year in public awareness of the importance of education, taking the form of more investment in the education sector.
"I invite the public to invest more in our education sector, especially for the construction of more schools in the country," Wardiman said.
Wardiman also said that the government cannot provide all of the funds needed for national education by itself, but failed to specify the amount of investment needed to give all children learning opportunities.
In a related announcement yesterday, Director General for Higher Education Bambang Soehendro spoke of the government's program to upgrade the State Teachers Training and Education Institute (IKIP) and change its status into university.
Programs at the institute usually take four years or eight semesters, while universities provide longer periods of learning, more disciplines and research and development opportunities.
"We are planning to improve the quality of IKIP and its graduates, so they won't have any difficulty finding work in fields other than teaching," Bambang told reporters.
He said that negotiations with the World Bank, to provide US$100 million to finance the project, have reached the final stage. The program is expected to commence within four to five years. (31)