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New government education reform plans met with cautious optimism
After seeing various "controversial" initiatives under former education minister Nadiem Makariem, the new government is aiming to reform the education sector by introducing fresh policies. While analysts note it might be necessary, they also warn that too many drastic changes could instead be detrimental to students.
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Next generation: Children attend a coding class organized by Saturday Kids last June. Previously, such classes were only offered over the holidays, but rising demand has led coding schools to provide regular weekly courses throughout the year. Children are taught Scratch programming, which is based on visuals and animation. (The Straits Times/-)
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fter seeing various "controversial" initiatives under former education and culture minister Nadiem Makariem, the new government is aiming to reform the education sector by introducing fresh policies. While analysts note it might be necessary, they also warn that too many drastic changes could instead be detrimental to students.
Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, during a coordination meeting with education agency heads nationwide last week, demanded a thorough evaluation of a number of problematic policies in the education sector, including the zoning enrollment system.
Introduced in 2017 under the leadership of former education and culture minister Muhadjir Effendy, the zoning system was created to ensure more equitable access to state schools and to eliminate so-called “favorite schools” by giving larger allocations of seats for students living nearby. The policy, however, was marred with fraud under Nadiem’s watch.
During his early appointment as a minister, the cofounder of tech giant Gojek and a Harvard Business School graduate introduced the Merdeka Belajar (independent learning) curriculum that aims to develop more flexible and effective methods for teachers with a focus on character building and boosting basic competencies in literacy and numeracy.
The country’s education system, however, has seen a lack of improvement ever since, with experts noting Indonesia’s declining scores in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey.
In the 2022 PISA ranking, Indonesia scored 355 in reading, 359 in mathematics and 376 in science, placing in the lower half of global rankings. Its scores marked a drop of between 10 and 20 points in each category from the 2018 survey, when it scored respectively 371, 379 and 396 in reading, math and science.
Read also: Parents, observers decry perennial problems with school zoning policy
