The Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) is facilitating education experts to develop a "grand design" for a 15-year education curriculum, which it will present as an alternative to the new government in August.

"People may question what role IKAPI plays in education, and of course, we have our own interests. But if we don't seriously consider this matter, the publishing industry will go down the drain," Dharma said on the sidelines of IKAPI's anniversary celebration in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He said a national forum would be held soon where experts from various academic and religious organizations, such as from Kanisius and Muhammadiyah, could meet to develop a long-term curriculum. This could then be used as an alternative for the government when they look at launching another new short-term, 5 year strategic curriculum when a new education minister takes office this year.

"This grand design will accelerate education in middle and eastern regions of the country so they can catch up with the western regions in the next 15 years."

The development of this "grand design" will be funded by the publishers through their corporate social responsibility budget, said the chairman of the IKAPI.

There are of course rumors the IKAPI - and its membership of nearly 1000 people - could simply be trying to get its hands on the education curriculum in order to sell books, he said.

"But this is not the time to talk about the past. We have to begin now to move forward."

Dharma said 15 years was a good benchmark because the country was in dire need of a long-term curriculum plan.

The government has not hinted it is particularly interested in changing the curriculum in the long-term, he said.

"If the curriculum changes ever 5 years, and new books must be bought by students, that significantly increases the cost for them, even if it means we sell more titles."

Still, from a publisher's point of view, the curriculum changing every time a new education minister takes office can be costly for IKAPI as well.

"In 2006 I signed an agreement with the government to publish text books that were valid for five years. That meant the same books could be used by students until 2011.

"The books were published in 2007, but in 2008 a ministerial regulation was enacted which stated the government would buy the copyright to the 400 books so they could be made available for free on the internet," he said.

"This sudden change in plans cost us dearly. The publishers of those text books had to layoff 50 percent of their employees last year."

Besides the rapid change in curriculum, the association now faces issues with printing costs. IKAPI is unable to drive down the price of text books, making them enticing to consumers, when the cost of printing taxes and high-quality paper is so high.

"If taxes on paper and printing were phased out, the price of books could be cut by 20 percent," he said, arguing that like neighboring countries, the government should adopt the "no-tax-on-knowledge" policy to provide education materials for all at low prices. (iwp)

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