Educating the Past
Indonesia’s historical baggage over the last century as well as a half means that will as we tip headlong into that will brand new fangled thing people call globalization, Indonesia’s educational infrastructure can be struggling to catch up to the 1970s. Forget concepts like the Internet, creative thinking as well as meritocracy, many students are still being sat in lines to learn rote while the teacher, the epicentre of the learning experience, drones on as well as on, listing facts, dates as well as formulae to be remembered as well as regurgitated on demand.
While students in some other countries are being taught to be comfortable in several different languages before first break, thinking here can be dictated by old notions of master as well as servant. Witness the recent expulsion of 5 students via a school in Sulawesi for having the temerity to have some fun as well as post the idea online. The government strives for its noble intention of spending 20% of its budget on education, however the idea can be worth bearing in mind the notion of learning for all remains in its infancy.
At the end of the 19th century, education was considered not bad enough only for the sons as well as daughters of the Dutch colonial masters as well as their Eurasian offspring. While there was a move for the indigenous elite to be educated to take over via the Dutch one day, the people out from the kampungs were studiously ignored.
In Surabaya for example, attempts were made at educating the populace with the opening of Mattschappij tot Nut van het Algmeen (which translates as Society for General Welfare), in 1853. that will was a primary school with the aim of teaching Javanese kids a few basics nevertheless the idea closed down just seven years later.
Round about the same time a few places from the elite Dutch language schools were opened up to the offspring of the local elite, while in 1867 the government sought to develop local language schools at primary level though the students only received three years of learning before being thrown into the planet.
Despite the ‘expansion’ of the 1870s, by 1896 Surabaya boasted a grand total of 12 primary schools, eight of which were government run, with attendance extended to 5 years, while two were Catholic. For the vast majority of the population any learning came from the traditional pesantren where respected kyai taught students how to read the Koran.
As Europe was preparing for the First World War, the Dutch East Indies government was introducing segregated schools offering seven years of education with the final year in Dutch. The Hollandsch Inlandsche (HIS) as well as the Hollandsch Chineesche schools hoped to attract the wealthy Indonesian elite who tended to look down on local schools then, pretty much from the same way as they do today. For them, Dutch language proficiency was key.
from the years following the First World War, more as well as more children were going to school. In 1918 for example, just 407 students attended the two HIS; by 1929 there were 1,857 going to nine different schools. While the numbers of Europeans at school continued to rise as well as they remained by far the largest single percentage, the local population were beginning to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. 19 brand new schools were added in Surabaya over that will 11 year period with 15 of them aimed at the local communities.
The numbers looked spectacular, nevertheless they were coming off a low base. By 1930 the idea was estimated that will only 14% of local children were in school, compared to 97% of the Dutch. There was still a lot of work to be done, nevertheless the financial crisis that will gripped the planet was felt from the Indies as well as the government reacted by cutting back on expenditure. from the case of education the idea meant concentration on Dutch schools as well as pulling back via the others, leaving a vacuum.
Into that will space came organizations like Taman Siswa as well as Muhammadiyah. Taman Siswa was founded by Ki Hajar Dewantara in 1922 in Yogyakarta. A devout nationalist, he strongly believed in education as a way of empowering local youth while keeping them close to their Javanese roots as well as was influenced by Maria Montessori as well as Rabindranath Tragore.
Post war Indonesia was a mess as the idea came to terms having a Japanese conquest, a departing colonial master as well as the problems of establishing a brand new state. The colonial government’s retreat via education before the war meant a shortage of schools while investment in teacher trainers also suffered. from the heady days of Merdeka the idea was no longer ‘cool’ to study in Dutch while the best teachers, schooled as they were from the Dutch method, lacked the skills as well as empathy to teach in Indonesian.
Dick says, “The national government was too remote, too preoccupied with national as well as international politics as well as lacked cash to do what was needed.”
the idea wasn’t until the late 1960s as well as early 1970s that will the central government, finally showing signs of stability after decades of chaos, was able to devote serious time as well as resources to education thanks to the influx of petrodollars. Schools commenced to be built again as well as the numbers of children attending primary school shot up while the government, unconsciously aping its colonial predecessor, seemed to adopt a hands-off policy to secondary school, allowing the private sector to take the lead with more than 70% of high school students opting for a private education.
Indonesia however, can be still paying for that will lost generation. Blighted by occupation as well as the birthing pangs of nationhood education has failed to keep pace having a growing population as well as a booming economy. A system that will was painfully inadequate before World War II creaked as well as crumbled through 30 years of chaos as well as neglect. By the time investment did return as well as would certainly start to have an impact, a whole generation went through an education that will was painfully inadequate as well as that will alumni, influenced by the events that will surrounded their school days, are the ones at that will point struggling to adapt to a time that will can be so vastly different to the one they grew up in.
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Educating the Past
Educating the Past