The Constitutional Court (MK) again made
a historic decision to grant a judicial review of Article 50, paragraph 3 of
Law No. 20/2003 on the national education system, which was the legal basis for
the establishment of the international-standard school pilot project (RSBI) by
the government.
The review was submitted by the Coalition for
Anti-Commercialization of Education over a year ago. With this decision, more
than 1,300 RSBIs across the country, by law, must be dissolved because they no
longer have a legal basis.
This decision has been welcomed by many,
especially those who have criticized the existence of the RSBIs. They agreed
that the RSBI are not in line with the spirit of the 1945 Constitution and has
led to discrimination and social segregation in education. The Court also
considered that the use of English as the medium of instruction in the RSBIs
could potentially erode national identity.
I
agree with the Court’s decision. It is undeniable that the program (intentional
or not) has been disriminatory in terms of access to good education. This is
because the RSBIs usually pick and select prospective students from certain
circles in society (upper-middle class).
It has always been widely considered that the
RSBIs have frivolously spent funds from the national education budget. It can
be said that the government has wrongly subsidized education for the
upper-middle class by spending billions of rupiahs every year on the RSBIs
development, thereby ignoring other groups.
A
program once considered a “lighthouse project” that many were proud of is now
ending with the pounding of the judges’ gavel. Moreover, if we calculate how
much of the state budget and public funds has been spent on this program, our
sense of sympathy only grows.
For your information, the Research and
Development Center of the Education and Culture Ministry said that total
revenue for the RSBI block grant funding since 2006-2010 had reached Rp 1.07
trillion (US$108.75 million). This does not include budget support from local
government and public donations.
So, what next? After this decision, the
government (like it or not) is certainly obliged to obey the Court’s decision.
If the government is stubborn and maintains the existence of the RSBIs, as
stated by the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, and confirmed by Akil Mukhtar
(Court spokesman), it could be considered against the law.
Therefore, all schools with the RSBI status
must be returned to regular schools, all levies on behalf of the RSBIs need to
be stopped, all forms of school administration, even the name on the school
signpost must be replaced.
Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh on
several occasions said that he respected the Court’s decision, but that the
government did not expect closures to be immediate as school was still in
session. Nuh even said that until the end of the school year, the RSBIs were
still allowed to collect fees from parents.
However, the Court’s decision was firm and
binding and any activities related to the project must be stopped.
There is concern, however, that local
governments will just rename the RSBIs — “Sekolah Unggul”, “Sekolah Mandiri” or
“Sekolah Model”, for example. If these (public) schools remain discriminatory,
expensive, and enforce the use of English as the language of instruction
disproportionately, people should, of course, refuse it.
Furthermore, It is important to reemphasize
that the Court’s decision does not dissolve the existence of a school itself.
What the decision cancels is only the implementation of the RSBI program.
Therefore, teaching and learning processes in all former schools have to
continue as usual. The spirit to go forward and excel at all schools, however,
should be kept, and if possible, improved.
I
understand that there will probably a little “cultural shock” after this
dissolution among teachers, students, principals, or perhaps in some parents as
some of them could have greatly enjoyed all the privileges that the RSBI label
gave them over the years.
For the school management, they might be
shocked by the fact that they no longer receive the large amount of funding
they once did. Some students or parents may also be a little disturbed by the
termination, as for them, the RSBI was a symbol of a good life. They were proud
to be part of the RSBI as it symbolized that they belonged to a group of people
with social and economic advantages.
However, these kinds of shocks should not
bring down the spirits of the affected parties. These former RSBIs certainly
have a lot of good values and the potential to be further developed. They
already have better facilities, a conducive learning culture and possibly
cooperate with several international institutions. These could all be used as
motivation to excel.
On the other hand, in addition to its
responsibility to make sure that these former RSBIs continue to grow and excel,
the government is expected to continue programs for improving the quality of
education for everyone.
Some good programs in the Education and
Culture Ministry that are now running, such as school accreditation, teachers
and schools certification, subsidizing the cost of education through the BOS
program, and the provision of a physical development block grant, deserve to
continue, and certainly by continuously evaluating and improving the system of
implementation.
Implementing competitive grants as an
alternative solution to improve the quality of schools, after the removal of
the RSBIs, is also a good idea. This is of course by taking into account the
fact that there are still sharp differences among certain urban schools and
schools in rural areas.
Specific requirements or different mechanisms
to enable these so-called “marginalized” schools to have the opportunity to win
this grant is necessary. I believe that if the programs I mentioned above can
be implemented well, evaluated and improved, slowly but surely, our education
will get better, without the RSBIs labels.
Afrianto
Daud ;
A
PhD Candidate in the School of Education,
Monash
University, Australia
JAKARTA
POST, 19 Januari 2013
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