Following the squabble over the omitting of science and English in elementary public schools awhile back, the Constitutional Court has ruled out against the contentious international-standard school pilot project, known as RSBI (Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional) last week. The ruling declared RSBI program breaching the Constitution for discriminating and segregating students.
Despite gaining an exuberant welcome nationwide, it does not signify victory for the students who are the key subject of education. Again, they have fallen victims to uncertainties plaguing our national education system resulting from the never-ending jumble tumble between policymakers and bureaucrats in the expense of the students.
Education for all! We uphold that sweet jargon dearly. Any children apart of their social strata, race, religion, and social background have equal right to benefit from accessible education. It is the responsibility of the government to provide affordable and qualified schools for its citizens as mandated under The Indonesian Constitution. Education is a long-term investment as today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. It is therefore mandatory for the government to build a strong and sound high-quality educational system that will ensure the nation’s future.
To achieve this, the government had ordained Law No. 20/2003 on Education requiring all municipalities and districts in the country to have at least one RSBI. The program originally aimed to boost the quality of the Indonesian schools to stand on par with their counterparts in developed countries in producing high-quality human resources.
RSBI enjoyed special treatment other public schools did not get. Each RSBI got an annual block grant of between Rp 300 million and Rp 50 million from the government to buy equipment and hire staff. They used English as a medium of instruction and adopted an international curriculum. In addition, the schools were entitled the discretion to levy fees from students, whereas other public schools were free. As always, when it comes to money, any discrepancies will lead into disastrous result. Such is the root of evil in this country! Money tends to corrupt people!
Consequently, the noble cause crumbled. Parents, teachers’ organization as well as the anti graft and corruption watch groups discovered inappropriateness in the program.
First, the program was deemed discriminative since it denied seats for students who could not afford the suffocating tuition fee. The liberty to extort higher fees than other public schools has made RSBI far too expensive for students from disadvantaged families. It meant the taxpayers also paid subsidy for wealthy parents since RSBI was funded by the state It was tantamount to the liberalization of the public education sector. It was against the philosophy of ‘education for all’ as stipulated in our constitution. The poor remained marginalized from the mainstream education.
Second, most RSBI have not shown any indication of improved education quality since their inception. Their students generally performed the same or even worse than students at any regular public schools. The term RSBI was always just a label, accentuating the prestige that boosted rich parents to send their kids in schools that used English. They focused more on adopting English into their lessons rather than on improving the quality of teaching. They hired English coaches to coach the teachers. Then, the teachers tried to teach in broken English. In the end, the students lost in confusion, let alone understanding the subject. Accordingly, the idea of RSBI was better solely because of their English was irrelevant and did not correspond to the improvement of education quality.
Third, there was lack of transparency in the financial management of RSBI related to the unlimited fees they could collect. The program has been managed in such a way that money mattered the most. Parents complained on how the schools raked in millions of rupiah a month on the pretext of improving education. Illicit fees collected to pay extra allowances having no transparent and accountable report. In reality, the money was going toward auxiliary expenses to build physical facilities, pay additional stipend for teachers and staff, rather than improve the quality of teaching and extracurricular activities.
The court ruling was lauded as the victory of the public who advocated education for all. Yet, the decision does not address the root problem of the tangle within our national education system. It leaves the RSBI and their students battling with the uncertainties on what might happen to them next. It also evokes the question on what would happen to the billions rupiah already spent on the program. Either way, nobody wins!
Again, the students fall victims. We easily turn on each other, playing a blame game instead of formulating constructive solution for the improvement of our national education system. The reality is we all share responsibility for the success of public education. The policymakers, bureaucrats, the teachers, the parents and the students, have role to play. Until all parties are able to sit in one table under goodwill to find the best solution, there will always be such squabble to repeat. Education is no-zero sum game to play!
Despite gaining an exuberant welcome nationwide, it does not signify victory for the students who are the key subject of education. Again, they have fallen victims to uncertainties plaguing our national education system resulting from the never-ending jumble tumble between policymakers and bureaucrats in the expense of the students.
Education for all! We uphold that sweet jargon dearly. Any children apart of their social strata, race, religion, and social background have equal right to benefit from accessible education. It is the responsibility of the government to provide affordable and qualified schools for its citizens as mandated under The Indonesian Constitution. Education is a long-term investment as today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. It is therefore mandatory for the government to build a strong and sound high-quality educational system that will ensure the nation’s future.
To achieve this, the government had ordained Law No. 20/2003 on Education requiring all municipalities and districts in the country to have at least one RSBI. The program originally aimed to boost the quality of the Indonesian schools to stand on par with their counterparts in developed countries in producing high-quality human resources.
RSBI enjoyed special treatment other public schools did not get. Each RSBI got an annual block grant of between Rp 300 million and Rp 50 million from the government to buy equipment and hire staff. They used English as a medium of instruction and adopted an international curriculum. In addition, the schools were entitled the discretion to levy fees from students, whereas other public schools were free. As always, when it comes to money, any discrepancies will lead into disastrous result. Such is the root of evil in this country! Money tends to corrupt people!
Consequently, the noble cause crumbled. Parents, teachers’ organization as well as the anti graft and corruption watch groups discovered inappropriateness in the program.
First, the program was deemed discriminative since it denied seats for students who could not afford the suffocating tuition fee. The liberty to extort higher fees than other public schools has made RSBI far too expensive for students from disadvantaged families. It meant the taxpayers also paid subsidy for wealthy parents since RSBI was funded by the state It was tantamount to the liberalization of the public education sector. It was against the philosophy of ‘education for all’ as stipulated in our constitution. The poor remained marginalized from the mainstream education.
Second, most RSBI have not shown any indication of improved education quality since their inception. Their students generally performed the same or even worse than students at any regular public schools. The term RSBI was always just a label, accentuating the prestige that boosted rich parents to send their kids in schools that used English. They focused more on adopting English into their lessons rather than on improving the quality of teaching. They hired English coaches to coach the teachers. Then, the teachers tried to teach in broken English. In the end, the students lost in confusion, let alone understanding the subject. Accordingly, the idea of RSBI was better solely because of their English was irrelevant and did not correspond to the improvement of education quality.
Third, there was lack of transparency in the financial management of RSBI related to the unlimited fees they could collect. The program has been managed in such a way that money mattered the most. Parents complained on how the schools raked in millions of rupiah a month on the pretext of improving education. Illicit fees collected to pay extra allowances having no transparent and accountable report. In reality, the money was going toward auxiliary expenses to build physical facilities, pay additional stipend for teachers and staff, rather than improve the quality of teaching and extracurricular activities.
The court ruling was lauded as the victory of the public who advocated education for all. Yet, the decision does not address the root problem of the tangle within our national education system. It leaves the RSBI and their students battling with the uncertainties on what might happen to them next. It also evokes the question on what would happen to the billions rupiah already spent on the program. Either way, nobody wins!
Again, the students fall victims. We easily turn on each other, playing a blame game instead of formulating constructive solution for the improvement of our national education system. The reality is we all share responsibility for the success of public education. The policymakers, bureaucrats, the teachers, the parents and the students, have role to play. Until all parties are able to sit in one table under goodwill to find the best solution, there will always be such squabble to repeat. Education is no-zero sum game to play!
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