The character of Indonesia's educational system reflects its diverse ethnic and religious heritage, its struggle for a national identity, and the challenge of resource allocation in a developing archipelago nation with a young and rapidly growing population. Although a key government goal is to provide every Indonesian with at least nine years of basic education, the aim of universal education has not been reached, particularly among females – although great improvements had been made. Obstacles to meeting the government’s goal include a high birth rate, a decline in infant mortality, and the shortage of schools and qualified teachers. In 1973 the government issued an order to set aside portions of oil revenues for the construction of new primary schools. This act resulted in the construction or repair of nearly 40,000 primary schools by the late 1980s, a move that greatly facilitated the goal of universal education.
The education system has its roots in the Indonesian culture based on Pancasila (five principles of the national ideology) and the 1945 Constitution. In the National Education Act No. 2 of 1989, the system aims at generating abilities and increasing the standard of living and dignity of the Indonesian people in order to achieve the national development goal.
In Indonesia the schools are operating under the auspices of several ministries. Public secular schools and non-Muslim private schools are under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education, while Islamic schools are administrated under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. A small number of institutions designed for training specialized personnel are managed by several other ministries, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defense and Security.
The system consists of seven types of education (see Figure 2.2), they are: (1) General education emphasizes the development of general knowledge and improvement of skills for the students. Specialization is also needed in the 12th grade; (2) Vocational education prepares students in mastering a number of specific vocational skills needed for employment; (3) Special education provides important skills and abilities for student with physical and/or mental disabilities; (4) Servicerelated education aims at increasing abilities required for certain government officials or prospective officials to implement a certain task; (5) Religious education prepares students to play a role which demands the mastery of specific knowledge about religion and related subjects; (6) Academic-oriented education focuses primarily on improving the mastery of science; and (7) Professional education prepares students primarily on mastering specialized or job-related knowledge and skills.
The level of education that includes formal school system consists of: basic education, secondary education, and higher education. Apart from the levels of education mentioned above, pre-school education is also provided. Out-of-school education can be held at the outside schools and provided by governmental and non-governmental agencies of private sector and the community.
Following kindergarten, Indonesians of between six and fifteen years of age have to attend a six-year primary school and a three-year junior high school. They could choose between state-run, nonsectarian public schools supervised by the Ministry of National Education or private or semiprivate religious (usually Islamic and called Madrasah Ibtidaiyah and Madrasah Tsanawiyah) schools supervised and financed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Although 85 percents of the Indonesian population are registered as Muslims, less than 15 percents attend the religious schools. Enrolment was slightly higher for girls than boys and much higher in Java than in the rest of Indonesia.
A central goal of the national education system in the early 1990s was not merely to convey secular wisdom about the world, but also to instruct children in the principles of participation in the modern national-state, its bureaucracies, and its moral and ideological foundations. Since 1975, a key feature of the national curriculum – as in other parts of society – had been instruction in the Pancasila (The five principles of national identity of Indonesia). Children aged six and above learned the five principles – belief in one God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy, and social justice – by rote and were instructed daily to apply the meanings of this key national symbol to their lives. Inside the public school classroom of the early 1990s, a style of pedagogy prevailed that emphasized rote learning and respect to the authority of the teacher. Although the youngest children were sometimes allowed to use the local language, by the third year of primary school nearly all instruction was conducted in formal Indonesian. Instead of asking questions of the students, a standard teaching technique was to narrate a historical event or to describe a mathematical problem, pausing at key junctures to allow the students to fill in the blanks.
After completion of the nine-year basic education, senior secondary education is available. The paths of senior secondary education include general high school, vocational high school, religious high school, service related high school, special education, and professional secondary education. The length of study in secondary education is three years for general high school and three or four years for other senior high schools. In addition to the senior secondary education, there is also an Islamic general senior high school called madrasah aliyah, which is equivalent to general senior high school, but it is managed and run by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Higher education is an extension of secondary education consisting of academic and professional education. Academic education is mainly aimed at mastering science, technology, and research, whereas professional education is aimed more at developing practical skills. Institutions involved in higher education are of the following types: academies, polytechnics, schools of higher learning, institutes, and universities. The length of study in higher education is three years for diploma program and four years for graduate program. Upon completing a graduate program, students can continue to master program for two years, and finally to doctorate program for three years
In 1998, school enrolment for population aged 7-12 years and 13-15 years was 95.07 percents and 77.31 percents respectively, and only 49.52 percents of those aged 16-18 years went to schools. The national adult literacy rate was 89.42 percents in 1998 (93.41 percents for males and 85.54 percents for females) (Table 2.1).
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