T

he Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry is currently brewing up the details for a new directorate on parenting education, which critics have said is unnecessary amid the country'€™s education reform.

Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) secretary-general Retno Listyarti said that it was not only unusual for the ministry to establish a parenting education directorate, but also unnecessary and would detract focus from the ministry'€™s other ongoing projects.

'€œThe establishment of the new directorate would be ineffective and just make the ministry'€™s bureaucracy even more complicated,'€ she said.

In a spirit of reform, Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan announced that the ministry would establish a parenting education directorate to would help guide parents in assisting children in the learning process.

The plan was another breakthrough from the new minister, who has been in office for just three months.

Anies has already suspended the 2013 Curriculum due to many components failing to be applied by teachers at schools and has introduced a new national examination system, which is no longer used to determine students'€™ graduation.

Despite gaining praise for his bold moves, Anies has also been criticized for not introducing better policies.

The revised curriculum draft still includes piety as part of students'€™ grading, making the frequency that Christian students go to church or whether Muslim students conduct prayers five times a day continue to be part of teachers'€™ evaluations.

The current system of national exams gives full authority to schools to grade their own students'€™ exam papers and determine their graduation status, a system that may open the chance for teachers to be generous in grading students.

In the past, schools usually swapped students'€™ national exam papers for marking in order to keep grading prudent.

Another plan on Anies'€™ agenda is the setting up of a teachers'€™ welfare directorate, which would provide training to teachers. The role of providing teacher training has a potential to overlap with initiatives under the ministry'€™s Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDMPK-PMP).

Education expert Arief Rachman said setting up the new directorates would not be a problem as long as the ministry had a clear vision.

'€œAs long as they are prepared well, the new directorates can be a good thing. It is a better way to encourage parents and teachers in assisting children,'€ he said.

Anies said on Thursday that the parenting education directorate would be an information center for parents who want to understand the school curriculum and involve themselves more in their children'€™s education.

'€œWe want parents to be more involved in the way their children are developing mentally and physically. Teachers are given guide books on how to make sure children improve in the education system, but parents aren'€™t,'€ he said.

Anies said that because the directorates were still in the planning stages, he could not disclose when they would be ready.

'€œWe are still waiting for the President'€™s approval on the new [directorates],'€ he said.