REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Quality education cannot be accessed equally by poor people. SMERU Research Institute researcher, Heni Kurniasih, said there were indications of differences in the quality of education between poor and rich students. Economic level is positively correlated with the ability to access quality education.
One of the ways this can be seen is school accreditation and the results of the National Examination (UN). "Community groups with higher per capita expenditure in terms of national exams tend to have higher results, this happens for elementary, middle and high school. They get better access to education. "From the 1997-2000s data, there hasn't been much change," said Heni Kurniasih, in Jakarta, Tuesday (9/5).
According to Heni, there are still several challenges to improving the quality of education. He said the minimum education service standards had not been achieved. In practice, many schools still experience a shortage of textbooks, limited laboratories, teachers who do not meet the qualifications, and a lack of subject teachers.
The financial burden borne by students' parents, especially secondary school funding, also limits poor people's access to education. Students' parents are still the main source of funds. Economic conditions influence how parents decide whether their children will continue school or not.
Even though there are School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds, Heni said, parents still have to cover other costs, such as re-registration fees for the new school year, books and field practice. "The results of research in 10 districts, it turns out that poor families still need to go into debt to pay these costs," said Heni.
This senior researcher at the SMERU Research Institute recommends that education can reach groups that still have limited access problems. He stated that there were still challenges in fulfilling access. Students dropping out of school after grade 5 of elementary school is still high, in addition the rate of student absence from school due to economic limitations is also high.
According to Heni, students who cannot continue to secondary school can be identified as fishermen, poor people, people in remote areas, indigenous communities, and community groups who have not seen the benefits of education. He stated the need to involve community participation to encourage out-of-school children to return to school.
Heni added that the low quality of teaching, high levels of teacher absenteeism, and minimum teacher qualifications that have not been met, also have an impact on the quality of student education. Apart from that, the perception of regional policy makers towards education needs to change. "Policy holders, especially in the regions, have not placed quality as the highest priority," said Heni.
Paramadina University education expert Totok Amin Soefijanto also said that poor students' access to quality education is still lacking. Improving school quality must be a priority so that the quality gap between schools becomes smaller. Forms, such as charter schools, entrusted schools and bundled schools can be alternatives to be considered.
Totok assesses the need for accountability and transparency in the quota for underprivileged students in admitting new students because it is very prone to irregularities. Government assistance in the education sector is more effective in improving community welfare. "Interventions in the education and health sectors have proven to be more effective than interventions for basic necessities, employment opportunities and low interest loans," said Totok.
According to Totok, the quality of teachers needs to be improved to support learning. He stated that there was a problem with the distribution of teachers in Indonesia. With 50 million students and 250 thousand schools, Indonesia has approximately three million teachers. The teacher-student ratio on a macro scale is excessive, but at the regional level there is often a shortage.
Rep: Kabul Astuti/ Ed: Andi Nur Aminah
Students take part in the teaching and learning process by volunteer Pertamina workers at SDN Tanjung Priok 2, North Jakarta, Monday (8/5). Photo: Republika/Yasin Habibi