Education for a Better Indonesia

By: Michelle Marcella Budiman

Education is one of the most important aspects of our life. Not only now in the 21^st century, but also in the past. In the past, our parents must have studied at an educational institution called school. That’s why our parents told us to go to school and study hard. When we were kids, sometimes, we were upset because our parents forced us to go to school. But, time goes fast and now, as teenagers, we realized that our parents wanting us to study hard at school is not without reason. Our parents wanted us to be good and successful people in the future.

Now I want tell you about general education in Indonesia. In Indonesia, all citizens must undertake nine years of compulsory education which consists of six years at elementary level and three in secondary level. The curriculum in Indonesia is based on the 2006 curriculum. Yet, some private schools have different curriculum which means that their curriculum exceeds requirements set by the Ministry of Education. Now, the government works hard to make all citizens, especially underprivileged children who drop out from school, go back to school and get a good education by making Kartu Indonesia Pintar (KIP). This card has been prepared for 20.3 million children. By using this card, the government expects all children in Indonesia to be able to get an education for twelve years until senior secondary level.

In my opinion, the general education in Indonesia so far is good, but still needs to be improved by the government, like school facilities in remote areas and the number of educated teachers. The first problem is many schools in remote areas where the facilities are not good and are not suitable for use; the roof, the classroom, etc. And then the number of teachers which is less than the number of students. In 2013, the number of teachers was 5.5 hundred thousand and the number of students reached 9.7 million which means that six teachers must teach one hundred students. So, the government has to do something that can balance these positions.

Education is really important for the younger generation because they have a high curiosity. Therefore, with an education, all the curiosity can be sated. Not only that, the younger generation also has big dreams, so with an education the younger generation can achieve their dreams.

Nowadays, the younger generation doesn’t need the theory in their education. I think the best way to make the younger generation better is character building and creativity. Character building can make a talented young generation, smart, and useful to the nation and country. And with creativity, young people can channel this talent in the subjects they want to learn and they could create something useful for themselves, others and the nation.