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eferring to Plato: Education is to absolve and renew nescience of truth. Aristoteles cited the purpose of education as in line with a state’s objectives.

Speaking about our education objective based on Article 3 of the 1945 Constitution, Chapter 31: The state must manage an education system that enhances the quality of the citizens in term of manners, furthermore improving people’s quality of life.

Seeing the poor quality graduates, I believe that the purpose of our education is not understood well by the relevant parties.

The local administrations’ lack of attention, particularly to instilling a firm understanding of education’s objectives in many teachers in the remote islands, is clear.

Some provinces have allocated money for teacher welfare, but many of them have not realized their role in improving the quality of the education. They may think that teaching is only their routine activity.

Lazy teachers in the remote islands are shameful. Referring to The Jakarta Post’s article on Feb. 11 on page 5, teachers in elementary schools on isolated islands are being accused of not turning up to classes and producing poor-quality graduates.

History has proven that education has played a very important role in building every nation. When the two atomic bombs ruined Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan 1945, Japan wasn’t thinking about rebuilding its infrastructure right away. Instead, it focused on how to recruit teachers for its children.

The city or country may have been destroyed but not their people. Education is the first priority to build the country for the future. Human capital is crucial compared to other resources.

Having excellent people will later benefit the country because of their contribution in building the country. The emergence of the people is surely a result of a fine education system.

Japan has proven that in terms of technology. I guess Japan has turned out to be one of the countries that produces new electronic devices.

Learning from Japan’s experience, we actually realize that to be a developed country it takes a long process, consistency and hard work.

Indonesia has guaranteed their citizen a better education as stated in the Law on National Education, which states that it is mandatory for each citizen aged between 7 and 15 to receive a basic education.

Teachers play a very important role in the education sector, no matter where they are. They must know the essence of their profession. They should help their students gain better knowledge, especially those aged between 7 and 15 years old.

A good teacher will not work only for money but for the betterment of our citizens. In other words, we will have qualified graduates if the teachers have a good will to teach.
Mc. Gynt Roemalean
Jakarta