Basilius Bengoteku, and Mark Heyward, Jakarta
When the 2003 Education Law was introduced, Indonesia formally adopted a policy of ""school-based management"" for its 216,000 public and private schools, and madrasah (Islamic schools).
In theory, this means that principals now manage their schools as autonomous units within the national education system, with parents and community members governing schools through representative school committees. In practice, a wide variety of models operates, ranging from schools with nominal school committees, which meet annually to sign off on a budget, to those with fully functioning committees that routinely participate in the school governance.
Can school-based management work in Indonesia? The international experience has been mixed. In more developed countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada, school-based management was introduced in the 1980s and 1990s. Communities, through elected bodies variously called boards, councils or committees, set school policy, approve curricula, appoint or participate in the appointment of principals and create school development plans.
In Asia, Hong Kong introduced school-based management in the early 1990s, followed by Thailand and Malaysia. In Indonesia, the National Education Ministry introduced school-based management in the late 1990s. International bilateral/multilateral agencies, such as Unicef, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, USAID and AusAID, have been assisting the government in supporting, strengthening and extending school-based management to include governance.
In some parts of Central America, the policy has been taken further still. ""Community-managed schools"" established in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in the mid-90s were given wide powers. In addition to setting school policy and managing the schools' financial resources, school councils hire and fire teachers. In Nicaragua, school councils in some rural schools not only appoint the staff but also establish incentives for teachers, collect school fees, design curriculum, select textbooks and allocate budgets.
What is the result of all this policy reform? Has school-based management resulted in improved schooling for children? This is not so easy to answer. International research has not yet proved conclusively that school-based management improves student outcomes. But in Indonesia, the experience has been more positive. Stuart Weston, director of the USAID-funded Managing Basic Education (MBE) project, says that it is the combination of community participation, new approaches to joyful and active learning, and school-based management that has made the difference.
""When schools implement all of these new approaches together, we see a new spirit. Everyone works harder. Parents, teachers and children take more pride in their school, and, based on evaluation of student performance in MBE schools, test scores improve,"" says Weston.
The Decentralized Basic Education (DBE) project, also funded by USAID, has been working together with the Indonesian Government and civil society since mid-2005 to improve the quality of schools in up to 100 districts across eight provinces. The evidence is compelling. The first cohort of more than 500 schools has completed school development plans to improve the quality of the education they provide to children. The process of creating the plans is as important as the outcome. School principals, teachers, parents, community members and representatives of school committees worked together to produce them. Community meetings were held to discuss the plans and to find out what parents and others wanted for their children. More than 12,000 people participated in the development of the plans.
As well as giving parents a voice and a sense of ownership in their children's learning, the process had unexpected outcomes. Even before the plans were completed, local businesses, parents and concerned community members -- on their own initiative -- contributed nearly Rp 4 billion (US$ 400,000) worth of cash, equipment, materials and services to improve their schools. And the evidence is clear. When parents and communities accept responsibility and get involved, schools become better places for children; social capital is created and the communities themselves are empowered.
Here in Indonesia, there is another imperative for community participation. School-based management aims to make the system more accountable. Efficient and transparent use of funds allocated to education could go a long way towards improving quality in Indonesia's schools. In order to access the new, centrally disbursed, BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah) funds, all schools must have a legally constituted school committee which approves the school budget. In many schools the school committee exists only on paper. The chairman of the committee, usually a friend of the principal, signs off on the budget with little or no input.
School-based management enables the community to be actively involved in preparing school-development plans. School committees can approve the annual budget which is based on the school-development plan, and monitor the management of funds and use of school resources. In some more progressive districts, such as Kebumen in Central Java, community members are also involved in the selection of school principals.
So, can school-based management work in Indonesia? The answer is yes. Ideally, schools are run by the professionals and community working together; managed by a principal and governed by a school committee, comprised of interested parents and community members. The evidence from research conducted internationally is inconclusive about how school-based management improves learning outcomes for children. But the lesson from Indonesia is clear. The Indonesian government's cooperation with USAID, Unicef, the World Bank and other bilateral/multilateral organizations and projects demonstrates that this approach does improve the quality of education and makes schools better places for our children.
The writers are employed by Research Triangle Institute (RTI), implementing partner for the USAID-funded Decentralized Basic Education Project (Education Management & Governance component).
