We need right kind of education

You have raised pertinent issues in your article Traditional or alternative methods for our students (The Jakarta Post, June 11). Several concerns and issues of education have been raised in this article and it is a timely one. Is Indonesian education one that is lagging behind other countries?

As you have mentioned, overhauling the education system in Indonesia would be the most pressing need. As a foreign consultant involved with an educational institute here in Indonesia, this has been my concern. How can we provide the right kind of education here in Indonesia?

The way to go would be to rethink the current education system and be open to global changes and challenges, try to be current with educational philosophies and practices; and consider how our students can benefit by this change.

The traditional system is to have uniform schools. They teach the same way and assess the same way. The more people that are alike, the better. Traditional methods in the classroom have very little constructive thinking and design. They can make students go to school, but they can't make them think.

Alternative methods have individualized programs where every child's mind is taken as seriously as possible, for example, to take differences of the individual as the focus. As Howard Gardner the guru of multiple "intelligence" succinctly puts it, "The most important moment in a child's education is the crystallizing experience when the child connects to something that engages in curiosity and stimulates further exploration".

The education system needs to go through a restructuring process i.e. to change the image of the learner, teacher and the classroom. According to Vygotsky, "Good education is characterized by a teacher, a pupil and an environment that is active."

Teachers need to relearn and need to be open to new changes and challenges. They may have the knowledge, but they need to have the right skills, attitudes and values. As you have mentioned, not everybody relishes the idea of learning something new, but they have to start somewhere. Good teachers do the right thing at the right time.

In my experience as a consultant for Fajar Hidayah, an Integrated Islamic School established in 1999, has been to train teachers to undo what they have been doing in the past and to see students as learners; to cultivate the interest for learning, to create a flexible curriculum and environment where children feel good about their learning. For their serious efforts in investing in teacher training and innovative programs, they were featured recently as one of the favorite schools in the Nebula magazine.

PUSPA SIVAN, Education Specialist, Founder, Director, PTC Learning School, Bogor, West Java