Legal Umbrella Needed in Debureaucratization

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Kriswantinah, 55, teaches her first grade class on 22 July 2019 at SD Negeri 1 state elementary school in Kepoh village of Sambi, Boyolali, Central Java. She remains enthusiastic about teaching, even though the class has only two students.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS— A legal umbrella is required in debureaucratizing education administration as it cannot be simply delegated to teachers. There needs to be clarity on aspects of administration that teachers, principals and education supervisors can cut down or disregard to boost their performance.

“Administrative problems occur due to regulations by the central government, namely the Education and Culture Ministry, which are then passed down to provincial, regency and city administrations. Many [of these regulations] restrict teachers,” Indonesian Teachers Unions Federation (FSGI) deputy secretary general Satriwan Salim said in Jakarta on Sunday (24/11/2019).

In the past few days, the text of a speech made by Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim on the National Teachers’ Day commemoration has gone viral. The speech gained widespread praise as it concisely cited several chronic problems that teachers face, including too much time spent on taking care of administrative issues, restrictive curriculum and lack of teachers’ confidence to innovate.

In the speech, Nadiem then encouraged teachers to initiate changes into the education system. He asked teachers to spark classroom discussions, create social projects with children and find the hidden talents of less-enthusiastic students.

Participants attend the "Digitizing Learning Management and Strengthening Character Education" national seminar on Sunday (24/11/2019) at the University of PGRI Semarang in Semarang, Central Java. The seminar was held to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI).Satriwan said teachers could not haphazardly bypass certain rules as this could be seen as anarchic. It is the rules that have to be made simpler and more flexible, in order to enable teachers to seek alternatives in approaches and methods to carry out their duties.

Indonesian Independent Teachers Federation chair Tety Sulastri said administrative procedures that burdened teachers should be evaluated. Currently, for instance, the procedure of teachers’ promotion from 3A to 3B civil servant rank is deemed too complicated as it needs too many documents.

Regarding personalized learning methods for students, Tety explained that the approach in Indonesia had been too classical. Teachers identify and classify students in classroom into three categories, namely those with above-average, average and below-average skills. In a learning environment, teachers create groups of students from these three categories to ensure the presence of peer tutors that enables exchange of knowledge.

The weakness of such a classical approach is that it is difficult to accurately assess students’ personal potentials. Tety said a classroom commonly comprised between 36 and 42 students and school infrastructures across the country had yet to properly facilitate the development of diverse individuals.

“Teachers are waiting for the government’s real actions in ensuring the personalization of learning as this requires much more than just teachers’ attention,” Tety said.

Rather than waiting for the minister to read it out in public, people will be able to find out what he says quickly.

With respect to Nadiem’s speech, Education and Culture Ministry communication and services bureau chief Ade Erlangga Masdiana said the speech’s text was uploaded to the ministry’s official website in a different approach than ever before. Rather than waiting for the minister to read it out in public, people will be able to find out what he says quickly.

Ade said the points of the speech were in line with the government’s five visions for education, namely character education, debureaucratization, investment and innovation, preparing human resources for jobs and the use of technology.

Urgency of digitalization

In Semarang, Soegijapranata Catholic University rector Ridwan Sanjaya said that, in preparing the golden generation, change in the education system, including in terms of digitalization, was necessary. Adequate infrastructure is needed to support it.

Ridwan said the youths would also be exposed to global changes. In line with this, beneficial digitalization must be strengthened, including in directing students to be more innovative.

“Digitalization helps ensure the quality of education,” Ridwan said on the sidelines of a seminar on “Digitalization of Education Management and Strengthening Character Education” at the Semarang PGRI University in Semarang, Central Java, on Sunday (24/11).

“My suggestion to the Education and Culture Ministry is to establish a technology infrastructure centered on the government. This way, students at schools without the capability to establish such an infrastructure can also gain access to it and benefit from it,” Ridwan said.

However, it cannot yet be put into practice optimally.

Character education campaigner and head of the Central Java branch of the Indonesian Teachers Association (PGRI), Widadi, said a learning approach centered on students instead of teachers had been campaigned for a long time. However, it cannot yet be put into practice optimally.

“Our model of exam still explores rote learning instead of the depth of students’ understanding on knowledge. What we have to do is reduce students’ burden of [having to learn] various school subjects,” Widadi said.

In East Java, the Surabaya Education agency has announced that it would establish a programming extracurricular activity for local middle school students. This would help prepare students to face Industry 4.0.

Surabaya Education Agency head Supomo said the programming classes would start next school year. The classes will be open for interested middle school students. (DNE/DIT/SYA)