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Education deconstructed: Hopes for the new bill
As stipulated in Article 86 of the draft law, assessments now serve as tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the education system and they are not defining students’ achievement at the individual level.
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Home safe home: A junior high school student (left) and his sister, an elementary school pupil, follow online learning at their home in Banda Aceh, Special Region of Aceh, on Feb. 15. The local authorities have mandated the suspension of face-to-face instruction following a steep rise in COVID-19 infections. (Antara/Irwansyah Putra)
After months of pressure for more public participation, the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry finally made public last month the latest version of the National Education System Bill and is encouraging education stakeholders and the general public to engage in discussion regarding the draft and submit their input to a platform provided by the ministry.
Although the ministry has finally addressed the issue of transparency in the legislative process, many are still not satisfied with the draft bill's current iteration. The absence of provisions on teachers’ professional allowance, for instance, has sparked the anger of various teachers’ associations in Indonesia.
The ministry has since clarified that the bill actually attempts to improve teachers’ welfare, as teachers would be able to get a professional allowance according to the provisions of the Civil Servants Law and Labor Law without having to enroll in a Teachers’ Education Program (PPG) as is currently required.
Controversies aside, the bill itself brings promises to improve education, if only the government plays its cards right.
Since his ministerial appointment, Nadiem Makarim has had only one mission in mind: To deconstruct Indonesia’s education.
The new education system bill is, arguably, the pinnacle of all these initiatives in the past years. The abolition of the national examination, the emphasis on foundational skills (literacy and numeracy) and soft skills development have taken the place of what were once seen to be the most critical aspects of educational achievement, such as content memorization and test results.
