Developing Independent People
Yudi Latif
Joko Widodo\'s vision to intensify human resource development during his second term has been received with enthusiasm, but also trepidation.
Mahabenar (May Allah, the All Merciful) make human development the center of attention, as Soedjatmoko pointed out: "Humans are the beginning and end of development."
Indonesian independence can be interpreted to mean the end of all forms of discrimination that prevent people from self-development. This political guarantee is stated in Article 31 of the 1945 Constitution: "Every citizen has the right to education." For Ki Hadjar Dewantara, who created the article, education is the means for a nation to advance to become developed, dignified and prosperous, and to achieve physical and spiritual independence. For this reason, education must foster the spirit of self-reliance, independence and self-determination.
The facts show, however, that developing human resources is not as easy as building physical infrastructure. It requires in-depth understanding (mental discipline), more appropriate policies, more creative and innovative programs, and the implementation of sustainable priority programs.
It must be acknowledged that human development has been backward and neglected during the 74 years of Indonesian independence. In reality, the progress of a horse-drawn carriage is determined not by the fastest horse, but the horse that runs the slowest. No matter how much development in other sectors can be accelerated, development as a whole will progress slowly due to the backwardness of human development.
There is no need to develop human resources by reinventing the wheel. We can learn from proven best practices that have propelled other nations to success. In taking examples from other countries, their appropriateness to the Indonesian context should be considered.
The education sector needs more focus with regard to various aspects of human development. For this reason, science and technology education, policy and institutional management and economic production must necessarily be connected.
Priorities of science and technology education
Science and technology education prioritizes transformation by correcting basic education before advancing to the next level. This is a common step taken in the successful models of Finland, Japan and Brazil. Basic education aims to prepare students to become good learners and citizens.
Excessive curricular burdens must be avoided at the elementary level. What need development are basic learning skills: reading, writing, arithmetic, speaking. These are then combined with four vehicles to develop character and creativity: mental processes (critical thinking and problem solving), emotional processing (spirituality, ethics and esthetics), sports (games and kinesthetic agility), intentional processing (creative thinking/imagination). It is not yet time to teach science as a knowledge discipline. Let children explore literature and any other field of knowledge without restriction. Schools simply provide the selected reading materials.
To foster citizenship, the language of instruction must be Indonesian. The obsession to introduce children to international competition as soon as possible by weakening the basic bond of citizenship can weaken future self-actualization through civic duty.
The secondary level needs to shift towards student-centered learning. The academic system of arranging classes by age is not a necessity, but a choice. History shows that at the beginning, public education in most countries arranged classes not by age, but rather by student interest in subject matter. Age-based classes were introduced in the early 19th century in Prussia (modern-day Germany and surrounding areas) as a strategy to restore Prussia’s military might following its embarrassing 1806 defeat to the French army under Napoleon. Schools were organized like military units in order to instill Prussia’s fighting spirit and restore national pride. Students were grouped into “platoons” according to age, and various countries adopted this system for efficiency (Bauer, 2018).
Even though this age-based education system is difficult to avoid, learning must take into account each student’s level of intelligence and interests. Therefore, at the secondary level, a concise selection of mandatory subjects should be offered to provide more room for elective subjects. This way, students can be introduced to experiential learning through both group work and apprenticeships.
At the tertiary level, education should not be oriented towards developing world-class universities, but to stand as a vital pillar of national development. Becoming a world-class university should merely be a happy side effect of the concerted implementation of Tridharma (the Three Pillars of Higher Education: education, research and community service).
University transformation must pay attention to equitable distribution, quality improvement and proportional balance across academic disciplines. Indonesia has 4,350 universities to serve a population of around 250 million. Compare that with China, which has around 1.4 billion people but fewer universities (2,824). In other words, the number of universities is not the crucial issue, but the distribution of tertiary institutions across regions and the low quality of most of our universities. Moreover, the students enrolled in the social sciences and humanities exceed those pursuing science and technology (engineering).
Engineering students comprise only 14 percent of all university students in Indonesia and have the highest dropout rate (4.66 percent), whereas 50 percent of all students are pursuing computer engineering. The problem is even more complicated, because only around 5,000 of approximately 100,000 engineering graduates are employed in their field of study. The solution is to issue an incentive policy that promotes engineering programs and also links to economic and industrial development.
University students must also be prepared to be flexible in responding to the challenges of rapid changes. We can learn from China, with its policy focus on changing the trend of excessive specialization towards preparing generalist learners who are able to think independently and innovatively. However, to equip generalists with the skills demanded by the working world, the education system offers experiential learning that uses the 2+1 model (2 years of university study plus 1 year of professional internship, or a 2-year urban program plus 1-year rural program).
Priorities of policy and institutional management
All these need an appropriate system of education management. Indonesia\'s problem is horizontal and vertical, with an uneven distribution of teachers and schools in both quantity and quality. A fully centralized administration complicates the distribution of education to match diverse regional conditions. Handing over matters of education management entirely to the regions makes it difficult to mobilize resources from surplus regions to those that have a shortage. The high costs and extensive campaigns of the direct elections have implications in candidates who do not possess competence in the educational needs of the region to which they are elected. Therefore, we can adopt the Russian model of partial decentralization. The physical matters of development, procurement and maintenance are entrusted to regional administrations, while curricular and teacher affairs remain centralized.
Later, the government can implement an asymmetric autonomy policy. Regions with relatively sufficient distribution and quality of teachers can be given broad autonomy, as well as to schools that meet accreditation standards. The central government merely sets the basic curricular framework and structure, while the schools must develop their creativity.
For those regions that do not meet the criteria, the central government must appoint teachers, assist in curricular development and improve the quality of teachers and schools. To accelerate school quality improvement in underdeveloped areas, we can adopt the Finnish and Japanese models. In poor/undeveloped regions, the student-teacher ratio must be lower than in rich/developed regions. For the remotest, most undeveloped and marginalized regions, the government can adopt the “charter school” model that has been proved effective in the United States. The central government can charter non-state agents (NGOs) that are experienced in empowering marginalized communities through educational programs to run government-funded schools.
As for the management of tertiary institutions, universities can be given broad autonomy, coupled with the establishment of a special body to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency. Each university must conduct regular quality assessments in coordination with state and independent bodies. Moreover, a quality assurance body should be set up that is tasked with helping universities to improve quality. To increase academic relevance in line with development challenges, it is necessary to push for closer ties between universities, scientific research institutions and businesses /industry, as well as between educational, cultural and social development programs.
Such arrangements can only be realized upon ensuring the quality of teaching staff. In addition to quality assurance reviews of teacher training centers and improving teacher certification institutions, qualified teacher candidates can be netted only by elevating teaching degree requirements. Teaching in Finland and Japan is regarded as a prestigious, respected and high-salaried profession. In Finland, only graduates from the best universities can become teachers.
Priorities of economic production
Aside from improving education, improved designs of the strategies and priorities for economic and industrial development is also necessary to prevent a mismatch between educational outputs and the working world. In doing so, educational and research institutions can determine which aspects should be prioritized in science and technology development and human resource development. Our economic production sectors can prioritize value-added development to drive Indonesia\'s comparative advantage. Our vast marine territory and maritime industry awaits the hand of technological development.
Our relatively fertile lands need innovations in biotechnology and agro-industry. Our beautiful country needs travel technology and tourism developments. Our esthetic strengths need arts technology and creative industry. Our wealth in renewable energy sources requires technological developments in alternative energy, and the list goes on. With defined priorities in technological and industrial development, education and research institutions can determine their priority areas and their priorities in human resource development.
Moreover, the ties between research and business also need strengthening. Indonesian research focuses too much on state research institutions. There is a dearth of research breakthroughs that can bring the resulting benefits to the public. Innovative researches must reach the market. Research should be an organic part of business activities. The government should pursue research policies that do not add new bureaucratic layers to state research institutions, but instead encourage the acculturation of research-based innovations in the business world through diverse fiscal policy frameworks that offer tax incentives and raise capital.
Yudi Latif, Member, Indonesian Academy of Sciences
