The Role of Teachers in Advancing Indonesia

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

Minister of Education and Culture Nadiem Makarim (center) when arriving at the ARMA Ubud Museum, Gianyar, Bali, Monday (9/11/2020).

Education is a cultured endeavor, with the principle of civility, namely advancing life in order to heighten the degree of humanity.---Ki Hadjar Dewantara

In the book Pendidikan yang Berkebudayaan (Cultured Education), Yudi Latif notes that until the end of the 19th century it was teachers who promoted the progress movement.

Teachers also pioneered the formation of modern public spaces. As new intellectuals, teachers raised the concept of "progress" as a new benchmark in determining social privilege. The ideas of "progress" and criticism of the teachers were articulated in the public sphere through the print media and the various associations they founded, such as Soeloeh Pengadjar (since 1887) and Taman Pengadjar (since 1899), along with the most influential teacher association, Mufakat Guru. "At the embryonic level, it was the teachers\' movement that paved the way for the national awakening that fueled the struggle for Indonesian independence" (p. 122).

More than a century later, what is the role of teachers in the struggle to advance Indonesia? Society 5.0 was initiated and became a core part of the Japanese cabinet\'s strategic economic and fiscal policy plan in 2016 to solve various social challenges and problems by utilizing various innovations. Society 5.0 aims to improve the quality of human life.

Also read: Managing Teachers with Promises

Improving the quality of human life is related to their capability to develop their full potential to do valuable actions or achieve valuable conditions. In the perspective of development as freedom, 1998 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Amartya Sen put forward the perspective of development as a process of expanding people\'s freedom.

According to Sen, there are five types of instrumental freedoms: political freedom, economic facilities, social opportunities, guarantees of transparency, and protective security. Freedom has a fundamental element, namely capability. The greater the capability of a person, the greater the freedom he has to respond to the existing opportunities. Vice versa.

Education that is oriented towards increasing capabilities has a very strategic position for the future of the nation.

The concept of capability is juxtaposed with the concept of functioning. Functioning refers to various forms of actual achievement in one\'s life. Capability is a person\'s substantive freedom to achieve various combinations of functioning being chosen because it is considered valuable for his life. Sen\'s idea can explain how the world of education increases the capability and freedom of society to achieve prosperity. Education that is oriented towards increasing capabilities has a very strategic position for the future of the nation.

Capability and functioning

The functioning of teachers at the end of the 19th century as pioneers of the progress movement paved the way for national awakening and encouraged the struggle for Indonesian independence. Teachers were able to achieve this functioning because they had the capability of being the intellectual elite at that time through high quality and limited education.

According to Furnivall\'s (1940) records quoted by Yudi Latif (2020), there were only about 300 schools in Java and less than 400 outside Java with no more than 40,000 students. In Sen\'s perspective, the teachers at that time had obtained instrumental freedom in the form of social opportunities through education so that they were able to function in rolling the progress movement in modern public spaces.

Also read: It’s Time to Pay Attention to Contract Teachers

After 75 years of independence, the capabilities and functioning of Indonesian teachers experience a different situation in an increasingly complex society. According to the latest data from the Education and Culture Ministry, there are 217,270 schools and more than 2.7 million teachers serving more than 44 million students.

In 2019, Indonesia\'s Human Development Index (HDI) was 71.92 -- the lowest was 30.75 in Nduga regency, Papua, and the highest was in Yogyakarta city at 86.65. The disparity between developed and underdeveloped regions still becomes a development issue. The dimensions of education in the HDI are the Expectation of School Duration (HLS) and Average of School Duration (RLS).

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.

Behind the aggregate index, there are true stories of teachers who deserve attention. Henrikus Suroto, 57, a teacher at SD Kanisius Kenalan Elementary School in Magelang regency, was covered by Reuters for his dedication to teaching amid the Covid-19 pandemic. His persistence in meeting his students directly in remote villages in Central Java, by riding for hours on motorbikes and on foot, became the driving force of his capabilities.

"When the coronavirus pandemic forced his school on the island of Java in Indonesia to close, Henrikus Suroto realized he could not teach online to his students who lived in remote areas that did not have internet access or even a telephone signal" (Reuters, 23/6/2020). Many teachers in Indonesia are dedicated like Suroto.

By the end of October 2020, a teacher participating in the Teacher Profession Education (PPG) program at Widya Mandala Catholic University in Surabaya, Melen Semuel Manu from Rote Ndao regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) -- a province with an HDI of 65.23 in 2019, was in the range of 6-15 points below provinces in Java, but the HDI is currently increasing relatively fast (BPS). During the online PPG comprehensive exam, the connection suddenly dropped. Then Melen gave a Whatsapp message to the examiner in Surabaya that the electricity in all his districts was down. An hour later, he returned to the online exam room after getting a generator and continued his test.

Also read: Being full of Stratagems amid Limitations

Together with 2.7 million other teachers throughout Indonesia, these two teachers have social opportunities in the form of higher education (completing the S-1 degree in at least 16 years) than the average length of schooling in their respective regions. In 2019, on average, residents aged 25 years and over studied for 7.77 years (or almost completing grade VIII) in Magelang and 7.29 years in Rote Ndao. With this privilege, teachers now have the same capability as teachers a century ago in advancing Indonesia.

Teachers then and now are (expected) to have the same resilience in moving the society to be more equal, just, prosperous, and dignified through educational works.

The Expectation of School Duration (HLS) in Magelang in 2019 was 12.53 years and in Semarang 15.51 years. HLS in Rote Ndao regency was 13.17 years old, while in the capital city of Kupang it was 16.24 years. This means that Suroto and Melen and other teachers still have to fight harder so that children in their areas want to go to school longer and expand their capabilities to improve their quality of life.

Challenges then and now

A century ago, as intellectual elites, teachers in Bumi Nusantara voiced and launched a movement for progress, while the people continued to carry out their respective jobs as farm laborers, fishermen, artisans, and others. When the discourse of progress and struggle became more widespread, calls for independence culminated in several wars in several regions, and the people moved against colonialism and defended independence. The intellectual elite exclaimed, all elements of society took up arms.

The wars we face today are different. The intellectual movement invites all people to improve the quality of life through social educational opportunities, not just for the sake of the HDI aggregate. Behind the aggregate, the Expectation of School Duration should not only be a statistic on the number of years spent in school, but also the increased capabilities of students, so that later they can function optimally in advancing the society.

Sharpened bamboos today are critical reasoning, creativity, and innovation to face various social challenges and problems through the mastery of artificial intelligence, internet of things, big data, and robotics, as well as improving the quality of life of people fairly and equally. Job fields such as agriculture, fisheries, and carpentry still exist and will be managed by school graduates, but the strategy for the work has to change and requires creativity and innovation.

Now, all Indonesian adult humans can elect their leader directly. Intelligence assessing and selecting the best leaders based on rational considerations will determine public policies that are progress-oriented in society.

In the context of a democratic country, the Expectation of School Duration also means increased freedom and capability to assess and determine political choices. A century ago, the people did not have the freedom to choose their rulers so that the voice of the intellectual elite moved them. Now, all Indonesian adult humans can elect their leader directly. Intelligence assessing and selecting the best leaders based on rational considerations will determine public policies that are progress-oriented in society.

The role of teachers in advancing Indonesia is getting heavier. Teachers have the capability through the social opportunities they have obtained and the toughness to serve students wholeheartedly. These social opportunities also need to be supported by the fulfillment of economic and security facilities, especially for teachers in disadvantaged regions with geographical challenges in the form of adequate life insurance and telecommunication network infrastructure so that their capabilities can also be increased. And so that teacher resilience can bear fruit. Happy Teacher\'s Day!

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Anita Lie

Anita Lie, Professor at the School of Teachers Training and Education (FKIP), Widya Mandala Catholic University, Surabaya