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Students say abolition of IPA, IPS pathways is ‘liberating’
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Study time: Senior high school students at SMAN 1 Pekalongan huddle together to study. (Unsplash/Courtesy of Ed Us) (Unsplash/Courtesy of Ed Us)
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tudents have praised the government’s decision to expand the removal of the science (IPA), social (IPS) and language (Bahasa) study pathways to approximately 95 percent of senior high schools this academic year, saying the move is “liberating” for them.
Until recently, final-year junior high school students had to make the tough decision on which academic path to take at the next level of education: IPA or IPS. In several schools, the Bahasa option was also included.
Once students decided, they studied the selected courses related to their preferred pathways, starting from the first or second year of senior high, which then led them to their choice of university program.
However, the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry has rolled out through its “Kurikulum Merdeka” (freedom curriculum) a policy to remove the academic pathways in exchange for individual courses that students can pick according to their interests.
The policy was first tested in 2021 and implemented further in 50 percent of senior high schools across the country the following year. According to the ministry’s website, around 14,000 senior high schools have adopted the new policy so far.
Read also: Nerds vs 'troublemakers': Students talk about burden of ingrained IPA and IPS stereotypes
A high-ranking official at the ministry, Anindito Aditomo, ensured that schools that are still using the previous 2013 curriculum would not be sanctioned.
