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Nadiem lauds higher PISA rank as improvement, but expert begs to differ
The education minister has pointed to Indonesia's improved PISA rank as indicative of the efficacy of the government's emergency curriculum, but an expert has countered that the focus should remain on PISA scores, as targeted in the government's 2024 plan.
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A teacher and her students wear masks during an offline class on April 8, 2022 at SMAN 87 Jakarta senior high school. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
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ndonesia has climbed up in the overall rankings of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) following a decline in its scores three years ago, with the government touting its pandemic policies as having been effective in curbing learning loss.
Experts have called on education authorities to not become complacent, however, and to keep their eyes on the real prize of improving the country’s education system.
The triennial PISA survey on education quality is run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and measures the abilities of students aged 15 years in reading, mathematics and science literacy.
While Indonesia’s overall ranking had improved, the results of the latest survey published on Dec. 5 showed declines across all categories compared to the previous survey in 2018. The PISA 2022 involved 14,000 randomly selected students across the archipelago and was conducted between May and June 2022.
Indonesia scored 355 in reading, 359 in mathematics and 376 in science to place in the lower half of the global rankings. Its scores marked a drop of between 10 to 20 points in each category from the 2018 survey, when it scored respectively 371, 379 and 396 in reading, math and science.
“All countries participating in the PISA experienced a significant decline in learning outcomes due to the pandemic,” Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim said on Dec. 5. “In terms of absolute numbers, Indonesia, like other countries, also experienced a decline.”
But the minister saw a silver lining in this year’s PISA scores: Indonesia had fared better than other surveyed countries in mitigating the impacts of learning loss, which he said had allowed the country to climb up a few spots on the global leaderboard.
