INDONESIA

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, straddling the equinox and formed by 17,670 islands. Its national territory stretches from Australia to Southern Asia and is the fourth most populous country after the People's Republic of China, India, and the United States.

Indonesia's population of nearly 200 million experienced a diminishing growth rate of 1.82 percent in the period 1990-1995, when compared to its 2.32 percent growth rate the previous decade (1971-1980). Although the population growth will decrease, the total population of Indonesia is expected to increase from 195.7 million in 1995 to 242.6 million in 2020. The World Bank estimates a continuing decrease in population growth, to less than one percent in 2015-2020. The decrease is attributable to the nation's proactive family planning efforts. National literacy rates have progressed rapidly since Indonesia's independence on 17 August 1945, in spite of natural impediments such as the nation being made up of 400 distinct ethnic groups and the fact that more than two-thirds of the population live in rural areas. In 1930, less than six percent of the population was literate, while the 1990 census data reveals an 84 percent literacy rate of those over 10 years of age.

Corresponding to the advancements in literacy is the change in the Indonesian labor force as characterized by the continuous decrease of employment opportunities in the area of agriculture and an increasing demand for knowledge and skills in industry. The structural shift in the economy has generated new challenges and demands affecting the education system. According to the 1987 Survey of the National Labor Force, 70 percent of the labor force had not been educated beyond primary school level, inadequate for a society approaching the era of modernization. However, the 1990 population census shows a growing tendency toward higher education within the labor force. Likewise, over the past 25 years, the number of pupils more than doubled for primary school, rose four and a half times for the junior secondary school, eight times for the senior secondary schools, and about 10 times for higher education. Such growth has resulted in a more educated population and labor force.

In June 1993, UNESCO awarded President Suharto with the Avicenna Medal (Ibnu Sina Award), recognizing Indonesia for implementing its universal education program for 7 to 12 year olds in a much quicker way when compared to other developing countries. Jacques Hallak from the Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO, wrote in 1990 that "higher level industrial countries with better social economic conditions like the United States and other developed West European countries like France, Germany and England needed 60 to 100 years to accomplish universalization of basic education."

CONSTITUTIONAL & LEGAL FOUNDATIONS

The national educational system draws heavily from the Indonesian culture. The system-based on Pancasila, the 1945 State Constitution, and the National Education Law No. 2/1989 aims to "generate abilities and to increase the standard of living and dignity of the Indonesian people in order to achieve the national development objectives."

Undergirding all government programs is Pancasila, Indonesia's state philosophy. Also known as the Five Principles, Pancasila was first articulated by President Sukarno on 1 June 1945 when declaring Indonesian independence. The Five Principles serve as the nation's blueprint for Indonesian society and way of life. These basic truths are presented visually in the nation's coat of arms and are actively taught in school. In fact, the entire first week of each new school term is called "Pancasila Week."

The following values constitute Pancasila:

1. Belief in "One Supreme God"
2. A call for a just and civilized humanity—not tolerating physical or spiritual oppression of any person
3. Promoting nationalism and Indonesian unity—a concept of one nation and one language binding together the country's diverse people
4. Pancasila-style democracy—this calls for discussion (musyawarah) and mutual assistance (gotong royong) establishing a national authority of consensus (mufakat) rather than domination
5. A system of social justice—assuring equal distribution of welfare and the protection of the weak

Building upon the state's philosophy is the 1945 State Constitution, Article 31 which assures that "Every citizen has a right to obtain an education and that the government shall create and execute a system of national education provided by law." The National Education Law No. 2/1989 provides the foundation for one national education system to be universally implemented in a complete and totally integrated manner. Universal means open to all people and valid throughout the country; complete means to cover all channels, levels and types of education; and integrated means that there are mutual supporting links between all types and levels of national education and development efforts.

The National Education Law further issued two objectives of the national education system: first, to establish a high-quality and self-reliant human being whose values are based on Pancasila, the state philosophy; secondly, to keep and maintain Indonesia's cultural background while at the same time generating the knowledge, skills, and scientific progress that will keep the nation abreast in the twenty-first century. National education aspires to improve the life of the nation along with fully developing the intellectual, moral, spiritual, physical, and social capacity of its citizens. (This National Education Law gains support from the Presidential Decree No. 10, 1973 launching compulsory primary education for 7 to 12 year olds and the Government Regulation No. 28/1990 expanding compulsory education to every Indonesian 7-15 years of age. President Suharto reiterated this national policy of compulsory education in 1994.)

The National Guidelines of the State Policy of 1993 stress that the nation will pursue a three-pronged approach to development. Speaking directly to the education aspect, President Suharto's speech to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on 6 January 1993, emphasized, "We have to see that education is being developed more fairly and equally to meet the needs of development and to be able to produce output in the form of human resources of quality . . . . Education should be directed to and in accordance to the need of productive working power in all sectors, in all fields and in all development activities."

In 1994 Indonesia entered the nation's second 25 Year Development Plan (PJP II). The most significant aspect of PJP II is the strong emphasis on human resources development through a commitment to excellence in science and technology equal to that of other developed nations.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM—OVERVIEW

Compulsory Education: Presidential Instruction Decree No. 10 of 1973, initiated Indonesia's program of compulsory education and by 1984 the government of Indonesia had fully implemented the six year compulsory education for primary school age children (7-12 years). The result of this new policy was significant in that the participation rate in primary school reached 92 percent in 1993 compared to 79 percent just 10 years earlier.

Ten years after the compulsory primary education program came fully into effect, Indonesia launched the Nine Year Basic Education Program, as proclaimed by President Suharto on 2 May 1994, extending compulsory education to the 13- to 15-year-old population. The compulsory nine-year basic education affords opportunities for Indonesian citizens to get an education. The extension from six years to nine years of basic education was also intended to alleviate the problem of child labor.

Age Limits: According to the National Education Law No. 2/1989 and the Government Regulation No. 28/1990, basic education is a general education program with a duration of nine years—six years of primary education and three years of junior secondary education. The nine-year Compulsory Basic Education Program attempts to provide an education for every Indonesian in the 7 to 15 age group.

Academic Year: At the primary and secondary levels the school year lasts 38 weeks on the average. The average length of teaching periods on the primary level is 30 minutes in grades one and two, 40 minutes in grades three to six, and 45 minutes in junior secondary school.

Language of Instruction: Classroom instruction is provided in the national Bahasa Indonesian language.

Curriculum Development:

Primary School Education: Basic education offered in primary schools aims to provide the ability to read, write, and do arithmetic, and to instill primary knowledge and skills that are useful for pupils in line with their development levels, as well as to prepare students to attend education in lower secondary school. Basic education is also carried out in lower secondary schools and is aimed at expanding the knowledge and improvement of skills obtained in primary schools that are useful for students to develop their lives as individuals, members of society, and citizens.

The education program for primary schools is prescribed by Article 39, Clause 3, Law No. 2/1989 and Article 14, Clause 2, Government Regulation No. 28 of 1990, and the February 25, 1993 decree of the Ministry of Education and Culture No. 060/U/1993. The curriculum content of compulsory primary education consists of subject matter covering Pancasila education, religious education, citizenship education, Indonesian language, reading and writing, mathematics, introduction to science and technology, geography, national and general history, handicrafts and art, physical education and health, drawing, and the English language. Such subject matter groups are not necessarily course titles as more than one material group can be combined with another subject; likewise, one subject can be divided into more than one subject.

Secondary School Education: The general secondary school curriculum is determined by the 25 February 1993 decree of the Minister of Education and Culture No. 061/U/1993. This program covers study materials and subjects required for Class l and II students: Pancasila education and citizenship, religious education, Indonesian language and literature, national and general history, English language, physical and health education, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and arts education. The language program consists of four subjects: Indonesian language and literature, English language, other international languages, and cultural history. The natural science program includes physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics. The social science program offers economics, sociology, public administration, and anthropology. These subjects are aimed at improving pupils' abilities and stimulating interactive relationships with the social, cultural, and natural environment.

Built on foundational courses in Class I and II, the special teaching program implemented in Class III can be selected by pupils according to their abilities and interests. This program prepares students to continue on to higher education in the academic or professional field.

Apart from general and special programs, there are also extracurricular activities that are offered outside the teaching hours. These activities—such as scouting, school health activities, sports, and first aid—along with the theoretical knowledge gained in the curricular program are intended to develop the whole person.

Vocational Secondary Education: This curriculum was set forth by the Minister of Education and Culture in Decree No. 080/U/1993. The objective of vocational education is to prepare students to enter employment and to develop professional skills and to prepare students to choose a career, to instill the ability to compete and develop independently, and to foster a national workforce to meet the manpower needs of business and industry.

Vocational secondary school implements education programs according to the perceived present and future demands for employment types. The vocational secondary school curriculum program is envisioned to be completed in three to four years. The curriculum is divided into six groups: the agricultural and forestry group, for occupations in such areas as agribusiness, agronomy, animal husbandry, fisheries, and agriculture production management; the industrial technology group, offering professions in building construction, mining, marine engineering, graphics, textiles, informatics, and industrial instrumentation; the business and management group, leading to careers in accounting, office management, finance and banking, trade, and secretarial work; the community welfare group, targeting employment with social services, community health, and community development; the tourism group, whose graduates move into the hotel, catering, fashion, and beauty occupations; and the arts and handicraft group, whose skills are focused on applied arts, visual arts, and the handicraft industry.

Special Education: Special education is intended for students with physical, mental, and/or behavioral disabilities. The programming is organized by multiple agencies including the government's Ministry of Education and Culture, other ministries, and private and nongovernmental organizations.

The aim of special education is to help disabled students acquire knowledge about their environment and to develop skills for competing in the job market or to continue their education beyond the customary special pre-school (one to three years duration), special primary school (at least six years duration), and special secondary schooling (at least three years duration).

In the 1995 school year, there were 703 schools teaching special education, with 32,921 students, 7,723 teachers and a student-teacher ratio of 4.26:1. There is a measure of difficulty in assessing the student-teacher ratio within the field of special education. In addition to numbers of students, other criteria must include the student's degree of disability, curriculum to be pursued, and physical and mental therapies offered.

Higher Education: In the early stages, higher education used the program structure inherited from the Dutch colonial period consisting of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. The curriculum was based on a prescribed course of study, the whole of which should be taken by the student. In 1979 the semester credit unit system was adopted offering more latitude in choice of courses.

The master's program consists of a class load of 36 to 50 semester credit units and a written thesis to be completed in no less than four semesters and no greater than ten semesters. Study for a doctorate requires 40 semester credit units and a dissertation which is to be completed in no less than four semesters yet not exceed 14 semesters.

Following secondary education, graduate studies for educators consist of diploma programs (Diploma I-IV) and specialist programs (Specialist I-II). The Diploma I study load ranges from 20 to 50 semester credit units and is taken over a period of 2 to 4 semesters after secondary education. The Diploma II program study load is from 80 to 90 semester credit units scheduled over a period of 4 to 6 semesters. The Diploma III study program consists of 110 to 120 semester credit units spanning 6 to 10 semesters. And the Diploma IV study program is 144 to 160 semester credit units scheduled over 8 to 14 semesters.

The standard load for Specialist I study is 36 to 50 semester credit units taken over 4 to 10 semesters after the graduate program. And Specialist II study is 40 to 50 semester credit units over 4 to 10 semesters after the Specialist I program or its equivalency.

PREPRIMARY & PRIMARY EDUCATION

Preschool education is aimed at stimulating the physical and mental growth of pupils outside the family environment before entering primary school or out-of-school educational programs. Among the types of pre-school education available are kindergartens, playgroups and child care centers. Kindergartens are part of the school-based education system and, as such, are under the Ministry of Education and Cultural Development (Government Regulation No. 27 of 1990). Play groups and childcare centers are part of the out-of-school system and the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Preprimary education is not considered to be neither a prerequisite nor a requirement for entry into primary school. Preschool is provided for children from four to six years of age, while play groups and child care centers are attended by children under three years of age. Apart from these schools, there are also special Islamic preschools which have the same status as kindergartens. These schools, known as Bustanual Atfal and Raudlatul Atfal, are organized by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Subject matter taught at the kindergarten level includes: Pancasila (state ideology), moral education and religion, discipline, language skills, intellectual stimulation, creativity, emotional harmony, social skills, manual skills and physical ability, and health.

Kindergartens have increased in terms of total numbers of school buildings, students, and teachers, and have experienced a dramatic reduction in the student to teacher ratio as well. In 1969, for example, there were 6,072 schools, 343,466 students, 10,423 teachers, and a student-teacher ratio of approximately 32:1. By the 1995-1996 school year, the numbers had increased to 40,715 schools, 1.6 million students, 98,094 teachers, and a student-teacher ratio of less than 17:1. These figures demonstrate an increasing community support of this preparatory educational level for students.

Six years of compulsory education for primary school-age children (7-12 years) was instituted in 1984. Then, in 1990, by order of Government Regulation No. 28/1990, compulsory education was expanded to a total of nine years, adding three years of junior secondary education thereby covering children 7-15 years of age. The number of primary schools and children attending them increased from 63,056 schools and 12.8 million pupils in 1969 to 149,954 schools and 3.6 million pupils by 1995.

The goal of basic education, as expressed by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, is to develop the lives of children as individual members and good citizens of society. The core content of basic education curriculum consists of Pancasila (state ideology), religion, civic education, Indonesian language, reading and writing, mathematics, introduction to sciences and technology, geography, national and world history, handicraft and art, physical and health education, drawing, English language, and local content.

For the calendar year 1995, figures indicate nearly one hundred percent enrollment of 7 to 12 year old students in government-funded primary schools. For the same calendar year, 62 percent of 13 to 15 year old children (junior secondary level) were enrolled in government-funded schools. This represents a decline from primary level enrollment which parallels a decline in government subsidy for students over 12 years of age.

In addition to the regular school system, there are religious schools, known as madrasas, equivalent to primary and junior secondary schools. The distinction is that the school curriculum, administered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, is founded upon the Koran and commentaries of the Koran, sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Arabic language. This is where Muslim children learn the precepts and traditions of the Islamic faith to carry back to their homes and villages. Such instruction sustains the living presence of Islam among the world's largest Muslim population, Indonesia having more Muslims than all the Arab nations combined. In the 1994-1995 school year, there were 24,232 Islamic primary schools, with 3.5 million students and 138,931 teachers.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Senior secondary education is available to graduates of basic education, (six years of primary school education and three years of junior secondary education). The types of secondary education include general secondary education, vocational secondary education, religious secondary school, service secondary school, and special secondary school.

General secondary education gives priority to expanding knowledge and developing students' skills in an effort to prepare them to continue their studies at the higher levels of education. Vocational secondary education gives priority to expanding specific occupational skills and developing professional attitudes as students prepare to enter the world of work. The government introduced something similar to Germany's dual system, transforming the role and function of the more than 200 vocational schools spread over Indonesia. The concept of vocational education is to create a work/study program through the participation of industry and commerce. More than 2,000 commercial and industrial institutes have pledged their cooperation in making training space available for students.

Religious secondary education gives priority to the mastery of special religious knowledge. Service secondary education is education that emphasizes preparedness for employment in the nation's civil service or government work. Special secondary education is specifically intended and designed for the physically and/or mentally limited students.

In 1995, approximately 39 percent of 16 to 18 year old students were enrolled in government sponsored senior secondary schools. With 13 set as the minimum age level for employment, and with family incomes averaging a meager US__BODY__,000 annually, many young people opt to extend the family's limited resources through employment rather than pursing an education beyond the junior secondary level. Tuition fees also place secondary education beyond the reach of many families.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Higher education follows the secondary school formatting with some institutions designated for academics and others for professional education. Academic education is mainly aimed at mastering science, technology, and research, whereas professional education is aimed more at developing practical skills. Centers for higher education include academies, polytechnic schools, colleges, institutes, and universities. Higher education is offered by both the government and the private sector with approximately 51 public universities and more than 1,000 private universities.

In 1979 a semester credit unit system was officially introduced and academic education modeled along the lines of the U.S. system. This system consisted of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. A non-graduate program leading to a diploma was simultaneously instituted as another type of terminal degree.

Enrollment of new students into a national university is based on a national entrance exam or a portfolio assessment, also called achievement monitoring (PMDK). Those who are accepted through the PMDK process are not required to take an entrance exam as they are judged to have content-eligible academic performance ever since they were enrolled at senior secondary level. (The PMDK selection process is not implemented at all universities.)

In 1995 there were 1,300 institutes of higher education, with 2.3 million students enrolled, less than 10 percent of the total 19 to 24 year old age group. The vast majority of senior secondary school graduates opt for the job market and employment rather than higher education.

ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

The Ministry of National Education and Culture (MOEC) is the organizational structure of the Indonesian educational system. It consists of seven principal units at the central level. These seven units are the Secretariat General, Office of Educational and Cultural Research and Development, Inspectorate General, Directorate General of Basic and Secondary Education, Directorate General of Higher Education, Directorate General of Out-of-School Education and Youth and Sports, and the Directorate General of Culture.

These positions assist the Minister of National Education in setting forth an administrative structure of education, developing curriculum, financing education, establishing the infrastructure and providing for equipment necessary for carrying out educational activities, and training faculty and staff to serve the education system.

At the local level, the Ministry of Education and Culture is represented by an Office of Education and Culture in each of the 27 provinces, and by a district office in each of Indonesia's 305 districts. The major task of the provincial and district offices is to interpret and implement ministerial policies on education and culture with recognition given to distinctive features of the local area.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is responsible for the Islamic preschools, primary schools, junior secondary schools, and senior secondary schools. Provision of higher education is managed by the Ministry of National Education and Culture through the directorate general of higher education, as well as by the Military Academy and the College for Civil Servants.

Finance: Technically, the government is responsible for financing education. However, costs for education carried out by the community is recognized as the responsibility of those institutions. In some cases the government funding is limited to specific elements of compulsory education. The education programs funded by the government are mainly financed through the administration's annual budget along with a separate development budget. Other funding sources are international aid (loans and grants) and assistance from regional governments and the private sector.

Primary school is free and theoretically requires no fees. Routine assistance for financing the middle and higher levels of education is the responsibility of the family in the form of a school fee paid to the state by each school to be reallocated back to the schools through an account known as the Education Funds Support. While the government offers subsidies to universities and among the various regions, it strongly encourages the participation of the local government, community and business in educational finance. Essentially each educational institution is expected to manage its own admission process and finances.

The Ministry of Education budget has expanded continuously over time. Within the first five-year development planning period or Repelita (1969-1973) the budget was 147 billion rupiah. There was a marked increase in monies appropriated in 1973 in support of the presidential decree launching the compulsory six years of primary school education. The budget increased to 12.9 trillion rupiah during the Fifth Repelita (1989-1993), and financial allocations for the first year of the Sixth Repelita (1994-1999) expanded to 4.6 trillion rupiah. The annual percentage of MOEC budget fluctuates in close proximity to the gross domestic product (GDP).

During the Fifth Repelita, 83.5 percent of the routine budget of the MOEC was designated for salaries and employee related expenditures. This concentration of the routine budget on employee-related expenditure resulted in limited availability of funds for procurement of teaching supplies, educational facility development, and administrative activities. Most consistently noted in allocations is the preeminence given by the Indonesian government in making of good citizens through the teaching of Pancasila. For example, in the school year 1997-1998, approximately 1.3 percent of the budget was allocated toward the development of "Followers to Believe in God" whereas the government allocated 2 percent of the total allocations toward producing more professional educators.

Also during the Fifth Repelita, international loan assistance amounted to 51 percent of the total development budget. Loans from the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) amounted to US$457 million, and loans from the Asian Development Bank totaled more than US$507 million. The World Bank provided assistance to Indonesia during 1970-1995 for developing education in the amount of US__BODY__.54 billion. The total amount of Asian Development Bank loans during the period 1975-1995 was US__BODY__.39 billion.

Educational Research: The key to quality postgraduate education is in focusing on research conducted by the university. Regular and continuous funding for research has only been available within this decade. With this funding availability has come greater opportunity to solve education development problems such as enhanced capacity for lecturers of various science and math subjects. Further, university research is rendering technology innovations having commercial and copyright potential in such fields as agriculture, tropical rain forests, biotechnology, and computer software programs. Increased research capacity might allow for academicians to travel outside their campus, helping to develop small and struggling industrial business enterprises, and in identifying and solving problems at regional and local levels.

NONFORMAL EDUCATION

Nonformal or out-of-school education is a substitute program designed to eradicate illiteracy in letters and numerals and the Indonesian language. Programming also provides individuals with an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills required to work and generate an income; to enable individuals to proceed to a higher level within the formal educational system; and to fulfill needs of persons, families, and communities that cannot be met by the formal education system.

Out-of-school education provides an educational equivalent to primary and junior secondary schools and is offered outside the formal education system. Features distinguishing nonformal from formal education include flexibility of the former in relation to the time and period spent, the age of the learners, the content of the lessons, the way the lessons are organized, and the assessment of the outcome.

Courses are organized at the basic, middle, and advanced level. Groups studying "Packet A" are organized to obtain an educational level equivalent to the primary school level. Groups studying "Packet B" are organized to obtain the equivalent of the junior high school level of education.

Out-of-school education is provided by governmental and nongovernmental agencies, the private sector, and the community. Communities may provide all types of education with the exception of formal education.

TEACHING PROFESSION

Previously, primary school teachers were graduates of schools for primary school teachers (SPG), a three-year program following junior secondary education (at the same level as the senior secondary school). However, in order to improve the quality of primary school, the government increased the educational requirements of primary school teachers to a two-year diploma course (D II program) following senior secondary education. At the same time, the government launched a national in-service training program for primary school teachers throughout Indonesia using the Open University. Its objective is to train existing teachers to the equivalent level of the Diploma II. The new requirement for junior secondary school teachers is to have at least D II education. The teachers of senior secondary schools are mostly recruited from D II and D III teacher training, and a master's degree, also referred to as Level I.

The quality of education at the various school levels is closely related to the capacity of the Teacher Training Institute to produce quality teachers. The institute graduates an average of 7,500 primary school teachers at the Diploma II level per year. This is a relatively small number when compared to the national demand for teachers (296,653 primary school teachers in 1994-1995). There are four contributing factors to the teacher shortage:

1. the number of teachers retiring, dying, or leaving for non-teaching jobs each year, which reached 23,453 persons or 2 percent in 1994-1995;
2. the imbalance in the geographic distribution of teachers;
3. the current surplus and shortage of teachers depending on the subject matter (e.g., surplus teachers are in subjects like Pancasila education, Bahasa Indonesia, social science, handicraft and arts, sports and health, national history, sociology, geography, and foreign languages; a shortage of teachers is found to be in mathematics, science, English, and local content); and
4. the final challenge to the Teacher Training Institute is in the high number of current teachers not meeting the published teacher standards.

For example, in the 1994-1995 school year, there were 1.1 million primary school teachers, 392,588 junior secondary school teachers, and 316,479 senior secondary school teachers. Of the total number of primary school teachers, 5.3 percent were deemed qualified, 87.5 percent semiqualified, and 7.2 percent underqualified. Of the total number of junior secondary school teachers 38.5 percent were judged to be qualified, 50.3 percent semi-qualified, and 11.2 percent underqualified. Of the total number of senior secondary school teachers 45.7 percent placed in the qualified category, 39.2 percent semiqualified, and 15.1 percent underqualified.

SUMMARY

National Focus: Indonesia's second 25 Year Long Term Development Plan, covering the period 1994-1995 to 2018-2019, emphasizes the economy as the most decisive factor of national development. Yet, steady improvement of a society cannot be separated from investments made in human capital, specifically that of the nation's educational system. This requires a financial commitment on the part of the government to ensure universal application of compulsory education for all students without regard to their ability to pay, adequately trained and compensated teachers, newly constructed and rehabilitated classrooms, textbooks, and other quality teaching tools.

Administrative Coordination: Consolidation of education oversight, from several ministries to one, would allow for better coordinated efforts, as well as redirect duplicated administrative costs to the field. Of further benefit would be the creation of a master plan, a roadmap to the future, with clear concepts, involving all elements of the education system—state and local governance, teachers, parents, and students.

Teacher Training Institute: Studies offered at the Teacher Training Institute should maintain flexibility so as to respond to the numerous trends and challenges within education. Flexibility, coupled with educational quality improvement programs (creating, monitoring, and evaluating systems of educational quality) will help the institute to become an inseparable part of the educational process.

Private Sector Participation: Industries require job-specific trained employees from the educational system; yet, as global markets shift and the Indonesian economy matures, higher critical thinking skills will be required of the work force. A system that might better serve the needs of students and businesses alike would be a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the private sector, in which the nation's education system equips students with the fundamentals required for work readiness while private industry teaches specific job skills. This partnership would allow the nation's education system to attain excellence in designing a well-balanced, broad spectrum approach of preparing future workers.

Higher Education: Universities are being challenged to become independent institutions, free from government subsidy and involvement. Yet it is a nation's commitment to public education that most contributes to the prosperity and well being of society. Should the nation continue to disavow itself from higher education, negative outcomes might result. For example, without state-sponsored schools, only elitists could afford to attend school; the nation might experience a "brain-drain" with students attending affordable schools in other lands and remaining there to work. Scrambling for resources, some schools of higher education are bound to disappear over time, thereby weakening Indonesia's overall educational offerings. The government (MOEC) must remain involved in higher education, in order to equip future generations, ensure institutional improvements through a national accreditation system for public and private universities, and encourage research for resolving issues of national import.

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—Jane Sabes