Boosting Indonesian Education

Kompas/Priyombodo

A student at Al-Bayan Islamic School, Tangerang City, Banten, doing the work of the teacher while studying at home (home learning), Tuesday (17/3/2020). School students in the Jabodetabek area and several other provinces in Indonesia must study at home following the government\'s policy to temporarily close schools in an effort to prevent the transmission of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Whenever we read reports from world institutions about Indonesia, we generally find advancements and positive developments alongside shortcomings and setbacks.

The same is true in a report on educational development in Indonesia published by the World Bank, which appeared in Kompas (19/11/2020). On the positive side, we have paid sufficient attention to education, as shown by the about 200 percent increase in educational funds since 2002. Over the same period, the number of students has grown by over 10 million at basic and intermediate levels of education. Gender equality has also shown some progress, with male and female students in almost equal proportion.

However, the above figures do now show impressive performance. Apart from the factor of remote dwelling places, students from disadvantaged families or those with disabilities must still face unfavorable conditions.

Also read: Educating Special Students

Only some 47.4 percent – less than half – of students have textbooks, and of the fourth-grade classrooms observed, almost a third (29.4 percent) had no minimum teaching aids, such as blackboards, pencils and notebooks.

In fact, hand washing with soap and running water is one of the 3M steps required during the pandemic.

The conclusion is that more than 40 percent of schools, under both the Education and Culture Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry, still lack minimum infrastructure such as toilets and adequate classroom lighting. Hand washing facilities with running water and soap were owned by only 50 percent of the schools surveyed. In fact, hand washing with soap and running water is one of the 3M steps required during the pandemic. The pandemic has also reduced the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) performance of Indonesian students by 21 points.

KOMPAS/ANGGER PUTRANTO

Teachers and Students give a greeting in lieu of a handshake when entering the Santa Maria Catholic Elementary School, Banyuwangi, Monday (9/3/2020). Although there are no specific instructions, this is done as an effort to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

With the existing road map, Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim acknowledged that the challenge being faced by the Indonesian educational world was not simple. Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi pointed out that the World Bank report should be countered through program reorientation as well as the restructuring of religious educational institutions, which he said were in need of improvement.

Also read: Education Center for Aceh Children

We appreciate all the efforts and achievements, but we should not ignore the various drawbacks that currently exist. We stress that the shortage of infrastructure, quality teaching personnel and student output is not yet satisfactory.

Moreover, the pandemic amplifies the aggravating factors of the problem. But we also admit that even before the pandemic, the performance of Indonesian students, as rated by the PISA, was behind that of other countries in the region.

If the government is consistent in mainstreaming the development of human resources under the leadership of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, there should be clear targets set to improve the less attractive educational portrait painted by the World Bank. Without definite targets, the learning losses mentioned by the report spring from two causes. The first is that we have not yet found the right strategy for educational development. The second is the impact of the pandemic.