Indonesian Education

Indonesian Education in Crisis

So what is the major malfunction of the Indonesian education system?    Does anyone seriously believe “education” in  Indonesia is on par with the west, or even Asian countries like Japan, Korea or Singapore?  Ask the question another way: If you had to have spinal or brain surgery, would you prefer to have that surgery performed here in Makroman, Samarinda,Jakarta, in Singapore or Hong Kong?  

If you answered “here in Makroman, Indonesia”, I would presume you either have a very decently western-trained physician, or else no resources whatsoever.  Or at least, none of my Indonesian friends with any money has ever had major medical procedures performed here.  They very readily say they would rather fly to Singapore than trust an Indonesian doctor to open them up.  Which is all one needs to know when it comes to “evidence”of the tortuous state of Indonesian education.

Certainly we can take a good deal of time arguing about whose fault it is — but the more immediate and pressing question ought to be why Indonesia has not followed in the footsteps of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Japan.  

Rather than chasing red herrings that lead to nowhere, let us tackle the real problems plaguing the system. Better to kill the disease than merely react the symptoms, after all.

But one fault is not remedied by pointing out another, and as much as it may please the senses, arguing about my country’s shortcomings does nothing to address the issues that plague Indonesia’s education system.

So what are the major issues here in Indonesia?  Let us look at a few.  

Corruption: the graft and corruption that is Indonesia is almost unparalleled in scope, and its influence on the educational infrastructure of the country can not be overstated.  It is no mistake that diplomas being easily purchased and cash-laden envelopes greasing the wheels for degrees that have not been actually earned play a large part of the reasoning behind informed, well-off people in Indonesia traveling overseas to get medical attention.

This general deficiency quite literally bleeds into the educational system in this country. You know, the whole idea of paying for scores related to the national exams (UN) administered, the additional concept (practiced regularly) of envelopes of cash exchanged with administrators or teachers that, magically (or not so magically) seem to correlate to above average marks for students who clearly can barely spell their own names, let alone count and reason higher-level arithmetic.

And thus we come back to the reason well-off Indonesians and expatriates travel overseas for serious medical treatment.


Vocabulary for my students of SMAN 1 Anggana
Decently = (adv) dengan baiknya
Whatsoever = (adj) whatever=apa saja, apapun
Tortuous = (adj) berbelit-beli, berliku-liku
Footstep = (n) langkah
Herrings = (n) ikan haring
Plaguing = (n) wabah, gangguan
Merely = (adv) melulu
Remedied = (v) memperbaiki
Please = (v) menyenangkan
Shortcoming = (n) kekurangan, kelemahan
Graft = (n) sogok menyogok,suap
unparalleled = (adj) tak ada bandingnya
Scope = (n) jangkauan
Overstate = (v) terlalu keras menekankan
Laden = (adj) dimuat
Earn = (v) memperoleh
Well-off = (adj) agak kaya
Deficiency = (n) kekurangan vitamin
Literally = (adv) secara harfiah
Barely = (adv) hampir tidak 

+totok eko suwito