T

he Education and Culture Ministry has revived its long-neglected plan to set up a national education council despite the incoming government's intention to split the ministry into two separate institutions.

The move is seen as an attempt to preserve the current government's education policy.

Itje Chodidjah, spokeswoman for the Education Reform Coalition, said on Thursday that she was baffled by the government's decision to establish such an important council, tasked with monitoring the ministry's performance and education policy, when the minister's tenure is scheduled to end next month.

'It's astounding that this government, in its last month, wants to set up this council. The law [stipulating the establishment of such a council] has existed for years. It's like they're ticking off a checklist of unfinished business,' she told The Jakarta Post.

The establishment of the council is mandated by Law No. 20/2003 on the national education system. The independent 15-member board will function to review education policy and provide feedback to the ministry on how to improve the quality of education.

The ministry's secretary-general Ainun Naim said on Thursday that the ministry had taken 11 years to establish the council because other matters had been prioritized.

'It's not too late. There were many other regulations that came first, such as the law on higher education. We've also had to manage culture,' he told the Post.

The ministry felt the need to establish the council as a number of provincial education councils had existed since 2005, Ainun said.

He revealed that the ministry would be recruiting council members until Sept. 22.

The council is expected to be up and running in early October, before the inauguration of president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla.

'The membership requirements are flexible, meaning that all kinds of people have the chance to be on the council,' he said, adding that the members did not have to be education experts, but could also be, for example, religious or cultural experts.

Despite the fact that the council members would be chosen by the ministry, Ainun insisted that the council would be entirely independent from the ministry.

Itje, however, claimed that it was not possible for the council to be entirely independent.

She said that the fact that the recruitment would be handled by the ministry itself should serve as a warning.

'If the recruitment is handled by the ministry, psychologically they will have a close connection. If the council is to be truly independent, the recruitment process must be handled by an external authority,' Itje said.

Education expert Doni Koesoema A., who is also an advisor to the Federation for Indonesian Teachers Associations, similarly criticized the recruitment process and urged the government to leave the process for the next government, which anyway has other plans for the ministry.

Jokowi has announced that the Education and Culture Ministry will be split into the primary and secondary education ministry and the higher education and research ministry.

'The council could be manipulated to continue the influence of the current government into the next one,' said Doni.