T

he government will focus on improving the accessibility and quality of health and education after a recent UN report placed a spotlight on Indonesia’s development achievements.

“We will improve accessibility and quality of health and education as well as increasing purchasing power in order to boost the country’s Human Development Index [HDI] position,” National Development Planning Minister Armida S. Alisjahbana said on Tuesday.

She added that the government would also attempt to decrease inequalities revealed by the HDI’s indicators, (including years of schooling, life expectancy and income per capita) by implementing equal development in Indonesia and building the capacity of all stakeholders in the regions.

The 2011 HDI report placed Indonesia 124th out of 187 countries surveyed, scoring 0.617, a slight improvement on last year’s score of 0.613, when Indonesia was placed 125th out of 169 countries.

The UNDP praised the achievement, saying that the country had witnessed rapid and consistent development, but critics said that this growth was not fast enough given Indonesia’s relatively quick economic growth during the last five years.

These relatively stagnant development achievements show the poor quality of economic growth in Indonesia.

The ministry’s deputy chairman for human resources and culture, Nina Sardjunani, told reporters that improving the lives of mothers and children would be the focus of the government over the next five years.

“To do so, the government has provided and will keep providing health care programs for the poor [Jamkesmas] or free maternity services [Jampersal],” she said, adding that future health policies would be based on this.

She added that the government would keep implementing the nine-year compulsory education program in an attempt to increase the quality of education in Indonesia.

“We will also provide opportunities for junior high graduates to pursue higher education,” Armida said, adding that the government would also invest to advance the quality of teachers and also certify Indonesian teachers.

The University of Indonesia’s professor of public health told The Jakarta Post that accessibility for health and education in Indonesia was highly dependent on infrastructure, which should be spread equally throughout the country.

“On the contrary, huge disparities occur here. For example, health services are centered on big cities, including medical professionals. Most doctors prefer to serve in urban areas as they can earn higher incomes there compared to remote areas,” he said.

Further, he said that poor accessibility and quality of healthcare in Indonesia was contrary to the huge state budget already allocated to the sector.

“The central government must intervene to balance the resources of each region in the country. They must provide bigger portion of aid for poorer regions,” he said.