Education should be Expensive, but…

M. Syahrul Zaky Romadloni,
Siliwangi University, Indonesia

Why is education so important for our sustainable life? Many scholars on educational philosophy have the prolonged discussions on it even though they have different notions on how it should be carried out. They all agreed that mankind should have the access on education in somehow it forms, unless, they couldn’t develop and maintain their great civilization. All what we’re watching now from complicated development of sciences and technologies are the fruit of what is so-called sustainable education.

Children of the Street: The Lost Generation of the Nation

M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni
Siliwangi University, Indonesia

His name is Adi, a fifteen-year-boy living in metropolitan city Jakarta. He is one of many children of nation who fight against the complexity of life through living in the wild life of the streets. Most of his days are spent there, collecting the pennies of rupiahs. His guitar seems to be the one weapon he has to survive, for he depends his life on singing songs in the city streets. In a day, Adi should hop from one bus to another from morning till evening.

To Read, To Think, To Write and To Act: The Choices of How I Conduct This Life

M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni
Siliwangi University, Indonesia

In my previous article I had shown you one of many choices that can be your reference in defining life’s goal. As a Muslim, I offered you Islam as the ideology you can refer to, for it doesn’t solely base its tenets on reasoning and speculative knowledge as western culture does. In Islam, God’s revelation is considered the main guideline for Muslim to live this life. It, however, still welcomes reasoning and brain exploration in most cases.

When I base everything on God’s guideline, I believe it’ll fruit better and more. Then, I try to implement this belief into my daily activities, for life’s goal must be clear and detailed. The clearer we implement our life’s goal, the easier and the faster we achieve it. Thus, describing our life’s goal in detail plays a big important role in being a successful man; whatever we define the term ‘successful man’.

Well, it’s time to tell you how I define my life. Of course it comes from my interpretation of what God had revealed through His mighty Handbook of life; al-Quran. I’ve told you that before, right? Thousand verses written in al-Quran give me many inspiring ideas of how I should conduct this life.

Many Muslim scholars stated that the first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad was Iqra [Read]. In this case, God obliged Prophet Muhammad PBUH to read in the name of God who created mankind. Then, it’s considered that reading has the significant position in Islamic tenets as it’s the first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

Having inspired by this verse, I’m determined to list ‘reading’ as the first priority of my life. Well, I try to ‘read’ everything I find in my life. The objects are not only books but universe, events, phenomenon up to the bad things I face as well. I believe God never creates everything uselessly so I try to explore the hidden secrets of this creation.

Of course, the narrow definition of reading should be obviously avoided in this case, as the context of Prophet Muhammad’s first verse has the large meaning, but very large meaning. How came God ordered Prophet Muhammad PBUH to read, whereas he was illiterate? It vividly shows us that reading should be defined as wide as possible. Reading in Islam isn’t solely pointed out to what is written in the scriptures, but the universe itself is a very large object of reading that people can explore.

Through reading many resources, I often find many inspiring ideas of conducting this life. They often influence all things I do from the humble till the serious one. What I read exactly will determine what I believe and what I do. Then, I come to the thought that the selected reading objects are playing an important role in sharpening the quality of life.

I believe that a great civilization is initially built by reading habit. One of my friends ever said that a great civilization will be solely a dream; if the people don’t pay attention to what is so-called ‘the scientific society’ which is begun from reading habit. Then, I try to get accustomed to it and make it as the main activity of my life.

Very often, reading can be a good medium for accessing someone’s thoughts or messages. The compilation of what we read then bears other new ‘thoughts’ which endeavor to mix, modify, and interpret these previous premises. It can be done, if we don’t only focus on reading the materials but think and criticize them as well. So, after reading, I put thinking activity hand in hand with it as the main activities of my life. Thinking is contemplating, rethinking, reconstructing, and criticizing the ideas I’ve read. Through this activity, I come to many conclusions and definitions of the phenomenon of life.

My belief in God’s existence comes into being after reading His great creation in this universe. I conclude that Islam is my best path to walk on after reading many literatures on Islam and its opponents. These beliefs are the fruits of thinking and reinterpreting all what I’ve read. I don’t let my reading activity evaporate without giving me any benefit.

Islam, in its handbook of life; al-Quran, has mentioned the word thinking in its tremendous places. Thinking is considered very important in Islam, for Allah has ordered Muslim to think in many verses of al-Quran. When I wrote the key word ‘fakara’ which means to think in Quran Encyclopedia, I found more than nineteen verses talking about the importance of thinking. Well, thinking is considered urgent for all Muslims to do.

Reading is considered the activity acquiring many lessons and wisdoms from many various resources. Thinking then help me explore those raw concepts and modify them to be new concepts or thoughts. Finally, writing is my effort to spread these new thoughts all over the mankind in this world so they can get benefit from my activities.

Through writing activity, I try to exist in this world. You can know what I am and how I am from all writings I write, though you never meet me in the real world. You see, many people know Karl Marx and state themselves as his followers, for Karl Marx had written many books which successfully shook the world through his extreme ideology, Marxism. In short, writing can make one keep living after the years of his death. What a unique.

I’m really amazed when I know that in the victory ages of Islam, most of Muslim scholars documented their thoughts in tremendous amount of books. The House of Wisdom [baytul hikmah] was the central of the scientific activities where many Muslim scholars could enjoy themselves reading thousand books and translating scientific resources from all over the world such as Greece, Persian, Indian, etc. Then, they modified these thoughts to be the new ones; Islamic tenets based thoughts.

These previous activities, reading, thinking, writing, won’t benefit much if there is no action accompanying. To act what have been produced by these activities is very important; for Islam has pointed out that the fruitful knowledge can exist if we can do it in daily life. The knowledge on the danger of bribery will be useless if we go on bribing in our daily life.

One of distinguished American motivators ever said that the pure power will surely come from our ability to act, not our ability to learn. So, after sitting on my desk for many hours, I go to the real life and do what I’ve on my mind. I try to inspire my students with everything I’ve from these activities. Hoped, it would be considered the pious deeds before Allah the Almighty, amien.

Riyadlul ‘Ulum
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
6:11

KTSP Implementation: A Note From Grass-Root

By: M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni*

The first time I initially took part in teaching profession I found national education system grew rapidly. It was indicated by the dynamic educational policies released by National Education Ministry [NEM] which accommodated the spirit of advancement and innovation. It seemed that government wanted to pay their mistakes many years ago which subordinated the national education for their children. Teachers’ wealth increased. Schools’ budget overflew. Students got much better education than previous years.

One of many policies released by NEM which accommodated the spirit of advancement and innovation was curriculum implementation. Once in the Indonesian history the implemented curriculum changed rapidly in a very short time. In 2002 Indonesia implemented competence-based curriculum [KBK] and five years later it used institution-level curriculum [KTSP]. Now, all of the stakeholders of National Education are devoting all their efforts to socialize KTSP in school level.

I personally don’t refuse the emergence of this kind of curriculum. Having participated in some short-courses on KTSP, I appreciate the positive sides of this curriculum. It’s the most dynamic and flexible curriculum I’ve ever found. It gives the high freedom for the teachers to make their teaching more interesting and contextual. They have the big portion to develop and make their own curriculum which can accommodate students’ needs and interests.

What pleases me much is that the implementation of KTSP is supported by government’s effort to develop teachers’ professionalism by increasing their wealth. It’d been the public secret that teachers in previous years earned a very low salary. This negative stigma seems to be initially changed by the government by increasing teachers’ wealth step-by-step. Some subsidies are available for teaching profession from functional subsidy up to professional certification subsidy. Moreover, the latter is being the main issue of teachers’ daily talk as it will increase their salary more than 200 hundred percents!

Unfortunately, as well as other policy the implementation of KTSP remains some problems. The characteristic of KTSP which lets teachers make their own curriculum is too high to reach. The Indonesian teachers had been accustomed to using the instant curriculum developed by central developers. So, as soon as this task descends, the teachers find many troubles. Finally, most of them use the shortcut by using the strategy of ‘copy-paste’ when they ‘develop’ their curriculums. What a funny!

In addition, the implementation of KTSP which has a great purpose in making the teaching-learning process more interesting and contextual seems to be useless. The recent survey shows that the majority of Indonesian teachers don’t change their ways of teaching. KTSP doesn’t change their teaching methods and they still use as the same way as KTSP doesn’t appear yet. It seems that KTSP is only successful in making teachers change their teaching-administration’s cover from the modest one to the complex one!

The tragic situation can be worse due to the condition of private teachers. The story of private teachers still doesn’t change as well as the rapid changing of national education system. Their portraits are still the same as what Iwan Fals said in his well-known song entitled ‘Oemar Bakri’. They still earn low salary and live in poverty. Can you imagine someone who earns Rp. 100.000 a month as the charge of their profession in this modern era? How will they live? How will they school their children? How will they buy medicines if they’re sick? And it still exists till now in our ‘beloved’ country, you know!

It’s difficult to find out the rationale if this kind of teachers should do the difficult tasks of being present teachers; developing curriculum, conducting the interesting and contextual teaching, etc. Their time has been off spent for looking for other ways of making money. Unfortunately, this is what happens to most teachers in Indonesia.

***

This note isn’t intended to confront the government who has worked hard in making our educational system better than before. Moreover, it doesn’t mean that KTSP Implementation in Indonesia doesn’t succeed at all. It just tries to describe that the great goal of KTSP is too high to reach in the grass-root level as long as the government don’t strive to change teachers’ attitude.

Besides, this note tries to warn the government that as long as they don’t change teachers’ behavior and attitude all polices won’t reach their goals. The government should think how to make Indonesian teachers sincere and dedicated in doing their tasks. If so, wealthy teachers will thank what they get and do the best in their teaching. Meanwhile, the poor teachers will remain giving the best for their children despite of their limitations as they think that teaching profession is a kind of dedication to country and religion.

The Garden of Knowledge

July, 29, 2010

5:19

* a practitioner in teaching profession.

Beyond Better Education

M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni
Siliwangi University, Tasikmalaya
Nahdlatul Ulama Institute of Islamic Studies, Tasikmalaya

Many people are still not consciousness on the importance of education for their children and youth. They underestimate it as the work for earning the money is more important than sort of lessons they get in the classes. This is getting worse since the government doesn’t give the wide chance of basic education for its citizens by serving the low-cost and qualified education.

An importance of education is obviously clear that it is an effort to put one’s potentials to maximum use. The human will not achieve its basic nature without the educational effort introduced before them. The uneducated human will look like the ‘animal’ that doesn’t have any ability to think and to reason as God had awarded it for human being. Can you imagine the man with no education? He may be a machine that follows what is being instructed without thinking and reasoning.

The UNESCO through its report stated that the education is the catalyst for human development. Education provides people with the tools and knowledge they need to understand and participate in today’s world. It helps to sustain the human values that contribute to individual and collective well-being. It is the basis for lifelong learning. It inspires confidence and provides the skills needed to participate in public debate. It makes people more self-reliant and aware of opportunities and rights.

The nation with the huge number of illiterate citizen finds the difficulty to get the progress from all angles of life as the education is the only means to improve someone’s quality. A qualified education obviously impacts the economic development of the country. In Niger, the incidence of poverty is 70 per cent in households headed by adults with no education, compared to 56 per cent for households headed by adults who’ve been to primary school. The facts show that an adult with a primary education earns twice as much as an adult with no education. Besides, the education influences the political stability and democracy. It builds people’s awareness to take part in political activities and do everything wisely. How will Indonesia be if its dwellers are not aware to take part in political activities? How is the portrait of modern Indonesia if its dwellers use the ‘ancient’ way to achieve their goals? Those statements strengthen our desire to apply the qualified education for all citizens so that we can derive its advantages as fast as possible.

Portrait of Indonesian’s Education

The portrait of national education recently leaves some homework for government to cope with. It is due to the belief that the education is the only means to sharpen the qualified citizens that will participate in developing the nation. The government, in this case, has at least three problems to cope with; the equality of education, the quality of education and the management of education. Besides, the low-rate of scholars’ reliance and excellence in developing the science is another trouble.

The low equality of education is clearly shown when we try to compare education portrait between cities and villages, western Indonesia and Eastern Indonesia and gender. In remote villages the access of education is something expensive that not all people have the access to it. In some case, the education in Eastern regions such as Papua, NTT, Celebes still remain some classic troublesome such as the lack of building, teaching medias, unqualified teachers, the lack of books as so forth and soon.

This contrasts to the condition of education in Western regions which are relatively better. We still see some regions whose the participation of education is still low. It is caused by the government’s ignorance in providing them with the sufficient educational facilities. How can the teaching be well conducted if the students study in the small ramshackle hut? How can the teachers give the up-to-date information if they have no sufficient resources to refer to?

As the result, the quality of education born from this bad fact is still sorrowful and unsatisfied. Indonesia is ranked 38 from 29 countries in Asia in case of the quality of its elementary students. This report is released by International Educational Achievement (IEA). Besides, Indonesian’s secondary students are ranked 39 from 42 countries in Math Mastery and ranked 40 from 42 countries in Natural sciences mastery.

Tweedledum and tweedledee, the management of national education still remains some problems. The centralistic management conducted by Soeharto’s regime still influences the educational management in some districts. As the result, most of educational polices approved by the house of representative and the central government failed when they are implemented in the districts. This can be seen when the central government has the policy to hold the national assessment of all students in this country, whereas, the problem of educational equality in every districts is still high. Some schools outside Java district could pass no students when the national final examination is conducted. It is obviously unfair if we equal the quality of the students in all districts when we see that the government still doesn’t give them the equal quality of education. Do the students in Papua have the same education with the students in Jakarta? Of course, not. So why should the government assess them as difficult as the students in big cities?

What Should the Government Do?

Seeing the importance of education and the fact that the portrait of education in Indonesia still remains some problems to cope with, the government and all educational stakeholders included practitioners, parents, and the students themselves have to think more seriously about how to apply the qualified and equal education in our country. Some policies must be approved to ease this ideal come true. Otherwise, Modern Indonesia that we dream together will be the only big dream of all Indonesians.