Today, the world is full of uncertainties and major challenges, including the inevitable digital disruption. It is certainly very strange that some experts judge education policies that invite controversy as a misstep.
By
IWAN SYAHRIL
·6 minutes read
Kompas
Didie SW
National education is always an interesting issue for discussion. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has served to prove the authenticity of the various disparities and issues that have arisen of late. It is now even more evident that our education still ranks far below that of other countries.
Just take a look: all elements of education faltered when we abruptly had to switch to online learning, as it was impossible to conduct in-class learning. It is not merely a matter of inequality in terms of digital infrastructure. Most teachers and students were also technologically illiterate in the early days of the pandemic. We have also witnessed nonpermanent teachers clamoring over their inadequate welfare for decades. There has been no concrete solution from the government to this issue, either.
Moreover, the quality of university graduates makes it hard to compete in the employment scene. Unemployment among young people is also very high. Data from Statistics Indonesia show that almost 1 million university graduates are jobless. This excludes high school graduates, whose jobless number even higher. It is thus unsurprising that the results of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) published in March 2019 ranked Indonesia 74th out of 79 countries in literacy, science and mathematics.
The quality of Indonesian education has not demonstrated any significant improvements in the 20 years leading up to 2018.
Upon tracing further, one of the major constraints on our education concerns policy and partiality. Many of the education policies to date have not been bold enough to abandon old norms and practices. Consequently, the resulting effects are predictable and progress has been virtually nonexistent. Education policies tend to maintain the status quo that has lasted for decades and has proved a failure in promoting quality national education.
The world has changed. Today, the world is full of uncertainties and major challenges, including the inevitable digital disruption. It is certainly very strange that some experts judge education policies that invite controversy as a misstep.
Actually, several education policies that are said to be controversial have motivated mass movements of a public that has so far been apathetic. This happened, for example, when Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim eased the policy on the school operational assistance (BOS) fund. The BOS fund is now disbursed directly to a school’s account and its use is more flexible in adjusting to a school’s needs and priority programs. In actual fact, the change in the mechanism of the BOS fund was highly controversial at first.
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Supriyanto
The same is true of the university-private sector collaboration program private sector called Kampus Merdeka (independent university). The education ministry (Kemendikbudristek) has proven capable of serving as a bridge between universities and industries that hitherto seemed unconnectable. Students have also been invited to learn directly in the world of work, which is sometimes not as pretty as they imagined while on campus.
There is also the recruitment of 1 million nonpermanent teachers through the contractual government employee program. If only its controversy were to be considered, the largest recruitment effort in history to improve the fate of nonpermanent teachers might never happen. The view that the Merdeka Belajar (independent learning for teachers) episode is elitist essentially is not based in rationale. This is even more the case when linked with the theory that education is a long-term investment, the results of which cannot be enjoyed in mere days.
The outcomes of the education ministry’s Program Penggerak (motivator program) certainly cannot be enjoyed overnight. Another example is the Program Guru Penggerak, an educational leadership program that has run for four generations comprising more than 16,000 teachers from 290 regencies/cities and 33 provinces. The total figure is indeed small when compared to the 3 million teachers in the country, because the program is still in its infancy stage. However, a growing wave of change is becoming noticeable.
The high level of interest among teachers in joining the educational leadership program is proof of this change. They have given rise to various innovations and offering strong hope for transformation in our educational leadership paradigm.
Speculation that the ministry’s Merdeka Belajar policy is part of an attempt to manipulate the philosophy of Ki Hadjar Dewantara is an exaggeration. Many academic circles, including young people who are generally less familiar with the philosophy of the “Father of Indonesian Education”, are now starting to delve deeper into it and be inspired by his various progressive ideas. This constitutes a positive movement amid the minimal interest youths have shown in becoming directly involved in education.
The view that the education ministry should be free of politics is also naïve. In any case, a ministry and its officials are never free of politics, however small it might be. In addition, a policy’s success cannot be separated from good political communication, which is even more so amid the need for intensive collaboration and coordination with regional administrations in 514 regencies/cities and 34 provinces.
KOMPAS/HERYUNANTO
Heryunanto
Ethics and character
There is actually nothing wrong with the criticisms of the different education policies. They just need to continue in a democratic country to ascertain their proper targets. What is a problem is when the criticism has no clear foundation or offers any solutions.
The direction of national education is now clear, which is to establish the Pancasila student profile; students who are not immersed only in literacy and numeration. Beyond this, ethics and character education plays a very crucial role. The National Assessment Program is one concrete measure, which again disrupts the comfort zone of those who follow the status quo.
At this time, we indeed need an antithesis for the sake of ascertaining that national education is capable of leaping forward and overcoming its backwardness.
Whatever it might be, antithesis will upset the status quo, including in the world of education. This is even more the case when the antithesis comes from among the ranks of the youths who have been tasked by the President to take a leap amid the heavy burden of the education of the past.
The education ministry is like a ship that must be propelled with a super force. It is almost impossible for the government, with the limited state budget, to execute this alone. There must be a joint effort involving the government, experts, civil society groups and the private sector to build the energy needed to propel this huge ship.
DOKUMENTASI WVI
Iwan Syahril.
Unless this is realized, our education will continue to make no progress and is almost certain to suffer a setback to be left far behind its neighboring countries. At this time, we indeed need an antithesis for the sake of ascertaining that national education is capable of leaping forward and overcoming its backwardness.
Iwan Syahril, Director General of Teachers and Education Workers, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology
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