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this time of rampant corruption and violence in society, educators want to try and instill character in the next generation in order to shape a better future society.

Announced in May this year, the National Education Ministry’s character education program has the goal to shape a better generation than the current one, but the office has yet to decide what kind of character they want to instill.

Ibrahim Bafadal, director of kindergarten and elementary school management at the ministry, has been thinking and tinkering. He is currently developing and evaluating several models of character education in order to find the right one.

After determining the appropriate model, the ministry would create a plan applicable to students from kindergarten to university, Ibrahim said. “Hopefully we can find the right method to instill character.”

Recently, ministry officials held a discussion to learn about character education practices at the country’s private schools and abroad. Marwah Daud Ibrahim, an official at the international standard elementary school Al Hikmah in Surabaya, East Java, attended the meeting and presented on his school’s experience.

Marwah said character education was important as it could change how a nation developed. She compared Indonesia to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, three countries known for their character education and which have been enjoying national income increases every year.

In 1957, Indonesia had a gross national income (GNI) per capita of US$131, while Malaysia’s was $356, South Korea’s $144 and Japan’s $306. Fast forward to 2007. The GNI per capita was $1,280 for Indonesia, $4,960 for Malaysia, $15,830 for South Korea and $38,980 for Japan.

“There is a strong relationship between having a positive attitude and GNI. The key to having a developed country is not abundant natural resources but the quality of human resources,” Marwah said, adding that Malaysia promoted confidence as part of its national character.

Another approach is a religious one currently employed by an Islamic elementary school.

Abdul Kadir Baraja of Al Hikmah said his school taught love for God, parents, teachers, friends and the environment as part of its character-building program for students.

Suyanto, a director general at the ministry, said character building should not be one single subject, but should be embedded within all subjects. He said the qualities the ministry was hoping to instill were, among others, discipline, creativity, empathy, tolerance and honesty.

“We will let each directorate develop their own plans. We will also let each region employ their own local wisdom. Each administration may have different techniques and methods regarding local character,” he said.

While the ministry is still searching for the right formula, the Karakter kindergarten and elementary school has had a program since 2001. Established by Ratna Megawangi, education expert and wife of former Information and Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil, the school teaches nine pillars of character to its students.

The pillars are love for God and all creatures; independence and responsibility; honesty and trustworthiness; diplomacy, respectfulness and politeness; kindness, helping others and teamwork; confidence and working hard; leadership and justice; generosity and humbleness; and tolerance, peace and unity.

When The Jakarta Post visited the school in Depok, the fourth grade class was teeming with activity. There were three students lying on a rug, three students were sitting around the teacher’s desk and one student walked from one desk to the other. All this buzz was to complete the task assigned by the teacher — calculating the degree of an angle.

Reyna leaned over her classmate Anggi to help her complete the task. Then, Reyna moved to another desk to see whether there were other classmates who needed her help.

“That’s just one of the elements of character we teach our students; they should help their classmates to understand the subject. They should also learn the subject because they are interested in it, not because we tell them to,” teacher Dian Anggraini said.

Ratna said when parents enrolled their children in her school, they must sign a contract saying they support the school’s activities. She said when the school teaches honesty to its students, it sends a list of parent-child activities relating to honesty so parents can teach good character to their children as well.

“For example, they can go together to a market and then parents can tell their children that it is not right to taste the food on display without paying or asking the vendor’s permission,” she said.

Simple as it may sound, character education proves to be quite complicated. While no plan for character education has yet to be decided upon, both Suyanto and Ibrahim agreed that parents and society should be involved in that education so students can get accustomed to those positive traits in school and at home.