International schools and national schools of international standard have expressed confusion over the planned enforcement of a 2009 ministerial decree that dictates the teaching of a number of Indonesian curricula subjects in Indonesian. Deputy Minister of Education Fasli Jalal talked to The Jakarta Post, in response to the alarm over plans to crack down on schools accused of misleading the public.
Question: What is your comment on the international schools’ protest of the 2009 Ministerial Decree?
Answer: The dialogue is still ongoing and the government has explained to them the reasons behind the decree. The government has no intention of barring foreign embassies and companies from running international schools.
The only problem is that the government has to ensure the rights of Indonesian students in the international schools and to make their curriculum compatible with the national one.
The decree cannot be set apart from the national education law in the context of nation building. It is impossible for the Indonesian students at the international schools to have a strong national attachment to the country if they do not learn Bahasa Indonesia, religion and civics.
The government has the authority to regulate international schools because they run their education business here.
If they want to ask for a grace period to adjust to the decree, the government is ready to negotiate the legal and administrative requirements. Regarding certain national courses, they can arrange special times and classes to allow Indonesian students to enrol in religion, Bahasa and civics classes and recruit local teachers to teach the courses in Indonesian.
When will the crackdown on schools to be launched?
There won’t be raids but comprehensive evaluations. The international standard schools are not criminals but they will be evaluated to put them back on track, in line with the 2003 National Education Law.
The media has misinterpreted recent statements from the ministry regarding increasing public complaints over privately-run elementary, junior and senior high schools hiding behind their “international” labels to make profits.
What do you mean by a comprehensive evaluation?
The ministry has formed a special team, which with local administrations will assess and cross-check the operation of “international” schools in accordance with their permits. All schools will be checked on their operating constraints. The team will seek input on how the government can facilitate and empower them to pursue the goals of national education.
What kind of complaints have the public filed to the government regarding “international schools”?
Many parents have filed complaints on privately-run international standard schools charging skyrocketing admission and tuition fees — but the quality of the schools, their teaching staff and their graduates turned out to be no better than regular national ones.
How do you define the international standard schools?
These schools are actually national schools, both private and state-run, inserting an international curriculum into the national one, in their efforts to improve their graduates’ quality.
According to the 2003 National Education Law, the private sector is invited to run international standard schools to help the government pursue national education goals and improve the quality of human resources.
Many state schools now cooperate with foreign schools to run bilingual international programs.
How has the government supervised the quality of international standard schools?
They are supervised by local governments, which should ensure a balance between schools as educational institutions and business entities, and the minimum standard of service that schools have to give to their students.
The law sets competence standards for international standard schools or they will be downgraded or their operation permit revoked. The government has also set parameters to measure and control their quality and their graduates.
The parameters include the schools’ accreditation, teachers’ qualifications, learning facilities and passing quality in national exams.
All international standard schools must be accredited into the A category and up to 30 percent teaching staff should have Masters and doctorate degrees from accredited universities, and part of their teaching staff should be recruited from the country of origins with which the education cooperation is made.
