H. Decentralizing education management

Challenges in the Indonesian Education System

Introduction

Indonesia is found in South Asia. It is the fourth most populous country in the world with a population of over 238 million people. The population is diverse in culture, socio-economic development, and geographic location (Central Intelligence Agency, 2004). The convergent impacts of globalization, the information and communication technology revolution, and the growing significance of knowledge as a key to development greatly emphasize the importance of education in shaping the human resource. The national education system in Indonesia is universal and open to all citizens across all races, religions, social-economic backgrounds, and geographic locations. Just like any other country, Indonesia is challenged with addressing inequality in accessibility and affordability of education and developing its human resource as a strategy to be able to compete in the global market which is knowledge based.

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Between the 1970’s and 1980’s, Indonesia put a lot of emphasis on improving access to education at the elementary, junior and senior school levels. Access to elementary education was attained in the 1970’s while junior high school education was made compulsory as from 1994. Senior high school education is not compulsory and the student enrolment at this level is low. According to World Bank records, between 1945 and 1990, the enrollment of students in all schools increased from about 2.6 million to over 30 million (Tan & Mingat, 1992). The education system in Indonesia consists of a compulsory education of nine years, six years of elementary schooling and three years of junior high school. Islamic education runs parallel to elementary schooling. The education system can also be categorized into formal and informal; formal schooling is divided into primary, secondary and tertiary. Schools are run by the government or by private organizations and individuals.

Basic education which includes primary and junior secondary targets the development of basic capabilities of people to enable them take roles in the society and to make them ready for secondary education. After junior high school, people have an option of either going to vocational schools or tertiary schools. Vocational education is mainly provided by private colleges or by charitable organizations. However vocational institutions are mainly concentrated in urban areas. Tertiary education is offered by polytechnics, academies, institutes and universities (Zuhari, Wahyono & Suratinah, 2006).

Shortcomings in the education system

Indonesia has made impressive efforts in offering education to millions of students, but quality and equity still remain a torn issue in the system. Education disparities continue to exist in different geographic areas, between the urban and rural populations, between the western and eastern part of Indonesia and between people of different socio-economic status, and even gender

(Zuhari, Wahyono & Suratinah, 2006). The last two decades of the 20th century saw a rise in the number of students enrolling in schools by about 45%. However, this rise was accompanied by a decrease in teacher quality (Agung & Suheru, 2000). The education system in place does not offer human resource quality as it does not connect student needs with labor market demands, thus school leavers and graduates are not absorbed in the work field. Education is not accessible to all, it is of low quality and not relevant to industry and labor demands. This is a great contribution to the high unemployment rates in the country.

Many factors contribute to inequality in education. These factors include lack of schools and classes, lack of learning materials and facilities such as libraries with up-to-date textbooks, deficit of teachers particularly in rural areas hence overloading the few who are available as one teacher is expected to cater for students in different grades. Also, the population distribution is not uniform, coupled with the country’s large size hence creating inequitable educational opportunities, unavailability of learning materials like good text books due to geographical reasons and lack of funds especially in rural schools. Due to poor infrastructure, some students in remote areas cannot be reached easily (Australia's education partnership with Indonesia, 2010). In other areas, the number of students is so small that it will not be viable to put up a school for them. Due to the high unemployment rates, a number of students and parents have developed low opinion about education as they do not see the benefits since many school leavers and even college graduates remain unemployed.

Education equality is also elusive due to the poor socio-economic status of many families. Children from poor family backgrounds are forced to remain out of school as they have to work to supplement family income thus do not have time for education. Lack of funds to build schools and to provide the learning materials also causes inequity in education as the government is focused more on the urban and accessible areas due to social, economic and geographic reasons. It must be recognized that education of good quality depends on many aspects constituting the students, teachers, and the education curriculum (UNESCO, 2007). Therefore, quality education demands motivated learners with good health, motivated and qualified teachers, proper learning methods, appropriate curriculum, enough learning facilities in a conducive atmosphere, well set goals and objectives, and appropriate mechanism for measuring the output, good education and management policies, active participation and engagement of the local community and their culture (Chapman & Adams, 2002).

High education quality cannot be obtained when students lack basic needs such as food, shelter and medical care. The students can be demoralized and be unable to concentrate in class thus cannot learn well. There are many Indonesians living below the poverty line and thus do not have access to basic needs. This means that children from such families are malnourishment and have poor health (Chapman & Adams, 2002). These impacts negatively on education equity and quality as these students have to be out of school in most cases.

Teachers play a key role in advancing education quality. The teaching profession requires people who are well trained, competent, determined and motivated. To improve education quality, focus must be beyond just the number of teachers. Emphasis must be on adequate number of teachers who are qualified and competent. The teaching profession in Indonesia lacks motivation and incentives and as such there is a shortage of teachers. Also, some teachers are not qualified and have received substandard training (Agung & Suheru, 2000). This means that these teachers do not have the skills to prepare the learners well for modern economy that is oriented on knowledge and technology.

The high unemployment rate in Indonesia reflects the status of the education curriculum. This curriculum is not relevant to the requirements in the labor market. It does not match the needs of the population and the workplace. This has resulted to creation of a large gap between the education institutions and the labor market, causing a rise in unemployment. The curriculum overloads the learners without developing their talents and abilities (Agung & Suheru, 2000).

Measures to improve the education system

To address the problems in the education system, the government of Indonesia has put in place many measures aimed at improving education equity and quality. To ensure that there is education equity the government formulated a law that guarantees accessible education to all children. This act entitles every child to a compulsory education of nine years. This forms the legal basis in encouraging quality education to all. To cater for the high number of students who are being enrolled, efforts have been directed at building more schools and classrooms while the existing ones are being renovated. Focus has also been turned on training and hiring of enough teachers so as to address the deficit in remote areas and to reduce the workload of the existing teachers (Agung & Suheru, 2000). Teachers appointed to the remote areas are given special incentive to encourage them.

Quality teachers are fundamental in improving education standards. Therefore, the government of Indonesia has also taken steps to improve the quality of the teachers by setting up standard criteria to ensure that only qualified candidates are admitted to the profession. The management and administration of the education sector has been streamlined in an effort to make the teaching profession be at par with other comparable professions (UNESCO, 2007). Training programs have been implemented for teachers and principals to upgrade their professional competency so as to become more knowledgeable and innovative. The welfare of teachers has been improved and they are being given incentives such as opportunities to further their education. This will make the teaching profession to be more attractive and thus attract the best people (Agung & Suheru, 2000).

More effort is also being directed towards ensuring that learning materials are available in all schools by publishing and distributing these materials. To close the gap between the rural and urban students, the government started to procure textbooks for students in remote areas. This is to ensure that quality learning materials are available and accessible.

To increase access of education, alternative learning programs have been explored and started such as setting up small schools and satellite centers to reach out for children in remote areas. Children with physical and mental challenges have also been catered for by establishing special classes. The country has increased learning opportunities for those children who are unable to study in the regular program by establishing the Open Junior Secondary School. This is an open education and learning system that serves children who cannot attend the normal learning system due to socio-economic, geographic and cultural reasons. The system was started in 1979 in 5 provinces each having one center, but now covers all the country (Zuhairi, Wahyono & Suratinah, 2006). Open universities have also been opened to avail opportunities of higher learning. The country has also implemented open learning for teachers. This has helped many teachers to train and upgrade their skills, and thus overcome the challenges they faced such as lack of time, geographic barriers, financial constraints, and few learning facilities.

To meet the increasing demand for education, community and private education providers are being involved more. The Indonesian government has also sought more cooperation with foreign education providers by introducing twinning programs, credit transfers, distance learning and open universities so that students can obtain foreign degrees locally

(Zuhairi, Wahyono & Suratinah, 2006) . The availability of foreign offshore campuses locally sets competition on the local higher learning institutions thus improving quality and standard of education. These efforts are geared towards increasing the level of education. The government is continuously sensitizing the public about the value of education through social mobilization using mass communication and media such as radio and posters. Through this strategy, many parents and children will get to appreciate education as vital in development of individuals, society and the nation as a whole.

Children from poor backgrounds are being motivated and encouraged to remain in school through implementation of incentive programs such as school feeding and scholarships. The government has mobilized community resource to support the disadvantaged children by providing them with necessities like school uniforms, textbooks and stationary. This is through carrying out activities such as school farming. Students with exemplary performance are being given scholarships and are allowed to join universities directly without taking entrance examinations. More dormitories are being constructed to cater for poor children whose homes are far away from schools (Australia's education partnership with Indonesia, 2010).

The country has also emphasized on the need to match what is taught in schools with what is required in the labor market. Therefore, the curriculum has been revised to match the knowledge and skills obtained in school with the labor needs. This is done by merging vocational and technical education with general education. The ministry of education unveiled a program that aimed at giving life skills to poor students in open junior secondary schools by equipping them with pre-vocational skills (Agung & Suheru, 2000). The education process now focuses more on self learning whereby the student is at the core of the process. This will help in identifying and developing student talents and abilities, hence nurture them the best way.

The country has decentralized its governance structure hence increasing participation in education management at regional and local level. Policy reforms and initiatives intended to improve educational quality and relevancy by strengthening regional, district and school anatomy and capacity have been implemented. Law No.22 of 1999 on “Local Government” devolved authority to local government in many sectors with the exception of security and defense, foreign policy, monetary and fiscal matters, justice and religious affairs (Bjork, 2006). This promoted more regional and local participation in many areas, including training and hiring of teachers.

To link local and global cultures and to put local autonomy into effect, English and Local Content curriculum are mandatory in junior and senior secondary schools, and in some elementary schools. This is in an effort to achieve the country’s educational goals at the local and international level and thus produce a human resource that is competitive locally and internationally (Agung & Suheru, 2000).