Let's pay attention to education, Mr. President

Khairil Azhar

On Saturday, May 2nd, 2009, I was out to buy some vegetable and fish with my son on my shoulders. On the way to my regular vegetable seller, I found another produce seller not peddling his cart as usual, but standing in a borrowed space waiting for customers to buy his produce.
I stopped by and bought some fish there. I curiously asked him why he now used only a two-shelved table—another seller’s property—instead of his pushcart. As he cleaned my fish he answered with a bit of pride mixed with oppressed sadness and sorrow that the pushcart had been sold to a friend. He really needed money to make his son meet the national exams requirements, like the many and various fees decided by the school. The cost to attend the national exam alone was nine hundred thousand rupiah. All together, he had to pay more than 2 million rupiah within two weeks for just five days of exams.
Most of the two million was earned by borrowing and spending all of his business capital plus, the rest from selling the pushcart. He was only able to continue his business that morning through the generosity of his neighbors and friends.
The thing I really admire about him is his toughness. He told the story without tears and without a single tremble in his voice, which is more than most state officials encountering a problem can do. Perhaps he is used to experiencing bitterness and pushing fear aside, because regardless of the situation, he has to step forward and forget his worries so that he can start another day. A necessary amnesia. He even spoke of the situation with pride because he had been able to give his son the opportunity to sit for the national exams. Hearing this I prayed in my mind, “May the school his son is going to have a “success team” to help him pass, so that his two million will not go to waste.”
On my way back home, I remembered a story told by my friend working for the national education department. He told me that a villa in Puncak for his department has just been finished. When he was inspecting the inside properties, he found that the room for his boss or the General Director was not properly prepared. In his mind, the boss’ level of service and goods should be higher. In the end, the room was reconditioned with all the luxuries afforded and cost in millions.
That is just the tip of the iceberg. But my friend is a good neighbor and not arrogant as some other government employees I have previously met. He cares about his children’s education but sometimes does not have enough time to assist them learning at home, but he has enough money to hire a private teacher or send them to a private learning center without burden. However, to make sure that everything is running well for them, he helps whatever he can do to enable the school his children go to get the aids from the government and so on.
If I count the money to build a luxury villa and compare it with the amount the above peddler spent to get his son to attend the test I just shake my head. My government employee friend might also spent the same amount of money but I am sure was without fear. He just had to call a friend or two in the national exams division or the principal and then sat back in restfully. But my peddler, after spending all his blood and sweat will go on his life with a fear if his son fails and must be waiting for the next episode.
My peddler, as generally planted in common people mind, surely thinks that education will enhance their children future financially and socially. They just know that getting a school certificate means a wider opportunity to get a job, regardless what abilities the children actually have got, while competences mean more and decisive. If I have a connection and I am someone who is important for the connection, how poor my son’s skills are will not matter. But for my peddler, his connections are but his colleagues and people from the same social or economic status, even though some probably are luckier. With his son’s senior high certificate or even a degree one, it is not impossible that he will push the same pushcart if no skills he has as the selling point.
This morning too, arriving at the school where I am an extra lesson teacher, one of my colleagues showed me the Friday, May 1st edition of a newspaper (I usually read newspaper one or two days after its publication). There, as usually happens, is a legislative member from a certain political party voicing that national exams as the only standard to judge the students success will be reviewed again and in the next academic year it is probably going to be the same as what is now known done for primary students (UASBN).
“Thanks God.” That was the first expression of my mind. But I immediately remembered that the presidential election is approaching. There are millions of people, who are active voters and decisive for the next president, in disagreement of the current policy of education. And the legislator however was from a political party having candidates for presidency. When he says “the government” implicitly he is designating the ruling person or party who for the people rejecting national exams are responsible of the fraud.
It is likely a prejudice. But national exams is just an iceberg of what has been happening for a very long time. It is not a top secret anymore that the national educational department can be a money machine directly or indirectly for many persons and groups. If it is not about cash money it deals with many policies issued to help out certain interests. Today’s political need is to calm down the people and the after-election day is another one. It is not going to be really shocking that the pendulum will move as the same it did following a candidate success or failure.
A few years ago, I alternately attended two training programs conducted for English teachers and computers teachers. Both of them were held by the national education department. In the first training I was an active participant as well as critical. I assumed that the trainers had been qualified and well prepared. But my assumption was wrong. As I have attended several seminar and trainings conducted by private institutions, I also assumed that the training would be done as well as the private ones. But I was wrong again.
What really shocked me later was that many employees came to the training center and after a while went to the boarding rooms and slept (it was in fasting month). And when I asked one of the government employees working there, he calmly said, “It is okay, because we have no parts to do. All jobs have been handed to a group of people from a certain company by the head of the training center (to make his own business run or get more bribe money from the private company). What important for us is getting our salary at the end of the month and forget any other things.”
The almost same thing was also happening when I attended a computer training program for Information Technology teachers. I found no sessions were really meeting our needs. Even the compute program designed to help the students learning English did not really work while the program had been installed to almost all computer given by the government to tens of school all over Indonesia. The schedule was also shortened and we went home earlier one day than it should be. And do not ask me about the financial matters of both of the training.
Again, national exams is only an iceberg. Prof. Ahmad Syafi’i Maarif, an Indonesian leading figure in education, one day said, “In Indonesia we have three departments that really deal with the people. Education department deals with our brain, but it corrupts and fails; religious affairs department deals with our hearts but it also corrupts and fails; and the third we have national health department which deals with our body but it corrupts and conversely sickens our body instead of keeps us healthy. What are left right now?”
Now I am really confused as a teacher and a parent. It is not an easy job though. Some of my colleagues take everything easy and save his energy at school. They need it for an after school job: being a private teacher or open a peddle at a sudden market (pasar kaget) and earn more money. So can I trust my children their future to the schools where the teachers themselves are weary of thinking their own interests? And along the day I am thinking of what I can do for my children, their education. If I send them to a school I am afraid that they are learning how to bully instead of how to be a buddy. I experienced many bad things at school and fear the same things happen to them.
“The thorns should be never plucked from the roses,” a saying tells. “Allow the children to experience whatever they face.” But no body will put his children into a hell intentionally. We pay taxes not only to avoid the penalties of law but also to get the return: public facilities with all the best the government can do. And it is not able yet to guarantee that our children will get the education they deserve. On the other way, we still have to pay a lot with our own money and stop thinking about what the taxes can do. Just wait and see while irritatingly some of the taxes nowadays are for political campaigning and financing the elections without any clear audacity of hope for the people.
That is why, my vote is for a president who understands and cares of education. I will choose a president who clearly states that Indonesian children are his children and is responsible for them. My president is someone who is able to cry seeing his son fails and cries louder when he sees a child hanged herself up the ceiling and died because of her failure to pass the national exams. My president is someone who will call the principal of her children’s school and tell him to allow his son experience the thorns of a rose. And it is not an utopia as well as a panacea of course. It is a step of unknown the rest steps.

The writer currently is the International Program Officer at Lazuardi Global Islamic School, Cinere. He can be reached at besoreal@gmail.com