The government should allow Indonesian students at international elementary, junior and senior high schools to take national exams to enable them to study at national institutions, an education expert says.
“Currently, the government does not recognize the certificates of Indonesian students graduating from international schools and many cannot study abroad for financial and other reasons,” Sugijarto from Jakarta State University said.
He also said the absence of local content in international school curricula and of government recognition of international school certificates discouraged Indonesian students from learning their culture and also from returning home after completing their study overseas.
International school representatives have criticized a decree making the local content of the national curricula mandatory at international schools. The decree was issued last year and comes into force on March 30.
However, a high-ranking official at the National Education Ministry said the teaching of religion, civics and the Indonesian language at international schools would only apply to Indonesian students there.
Sugijarto and fellow education expert Arief Rahman said that while local content was necessary for Indonesian students, the increase in internationally accredited schools and the Indonesian students attending them showed the government’s failure to improve the quality of education in national state and private schools.
They urged the government to review the 2007 Education Law, which stipulates that academic institutions are business entities.
“With the mandatory allocation of 20 percent of the national budget for education, the government should provide affordable education for all and improve the quality of human resources through quality education nationwide,” they said.
However the government should step up monitoring of claimed “international” schools, they said. Schools boasting such labels are found in all major cities in Indonesia, including Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan, Semarang, Makassar and also in Riau, East Kalimantan, West Papua and West Nusa Tenggara provinces.
Arief said many parents preferred sending their children to international standard schools, despite not fully knowing the quality.
“The government has to set standard parameters to monitor and supervise international standard schools. It should set the lowest and highest ceiling price the schools are allowed to charge to ensure affordable education for all,” he said.
“The government looks to be deregulating the education sector, but it has to control it to ensure an equal chance for all citizens to get a better education,” he said.
Arief said the main stumbling block to monitoring international schools was weak coordination with regional administrations.
