The Shoddy Education System of Indonesia

Was I too stupid or blind so I couldn’t see the shoddy education system in Indonesia? How could I pass anything around me for years as a teacher who has been in the education system in this country? Just because I don’t do that, I shouldn’t be blind.

Let me make it clear.

I was shocked enough when a XII grader told me that the newspapers today had painted about the national final examination. They reported about 1-2 senior high schools in the city which had cheated in the national exam. He told me that the teachers of those schools who had cheated the national exam, giving the answer keys of the national exam questions to their students. They opened the seal of covered question papers a few hours before the real examination should take place. They answered the questions and shared the answers for their students and students then shared the answer keys to their friends. Thus, all XII graders in the city had known the answers before they went to the school to take the exam. What the fuck!

The student told me that he didn’t trust the answer keys because he had studied and he trusted himself. He might say that because he’s one of our brilliant students as he’s a national Chemistry Olympiad participant. What about other students who aren’t too good academically?

When I was taking the university lecture, a class mate told me the same story of the national exam. I just could say ‘Oh my God, oh my God’ many times to show how I got shocked. He smiled but understood that I did don’t know about it. He told everything then. You all realize now why the title of this post is ‘The Shoddy Education System of Indonesia’.

How Could Teachers Do That?

I give these questions to teachers who have run that way. 

Don’t you think you shouldn’t be a teacher because you show a bad behave directly into students’ deep eyes? Where will you take the students by showing them a bad lesson of life? Do you think that you should be with them all the time of their life? How do they can be possible face their life when you take hands in all of their important jobs but you don’t show them the way of facing life? How can we have good fighters if we fight for them in their battles?

I know sometimes I show bad attitude for others, students in this case, but I never think I’ll teach them how to cheat. I’d taught students and prepared them all to take the exam since they’re in X grade and I thought the preparation was completed. For about three years, teachers in our school had taught students how to fight, prepared their guns, and showed them how to win the battle. I know if we had more time we’d teach them again and again but the time was over. They're ready or not, they must fight.

We all –I at least– trust them that they must be able to pass the final examination with good scores.

Pay Much Money For Nothing?

I’m curious why the government wanna waste so much time and money for a big nothing? What for they created the chosen good-standard questions to select which students might pass the exam and which ones might lost if the teachers who would answer those questions and not students?

In my opinion, it’s not fault of the teachers only. It’s a circle of the shoddy education system. I can’t think wrong about teachers not because I’m also a teacher. I think they need money as we all do. Their salary may be too low to pay everything –assume that they just earn from school and have no any other job but teach– and they’ll lost their job if students failed in the final exam. If the number of those students is big enough, the number of new students in the next academic year will be less than the last year. It’s a devil circle in education as the government can’t warrant good life for the citizen.

So what for we waste money to form a certain team and to create the final questions if the questions could select no students? Let’s forget about the final examination for the last grade of each level education if we do think about our society. Why don’t we use the money to create a better life for poor people so we may have a better life in this country? Government can use the money to pay a better education so students can study in any good school without paying any cent. We can pay the money for teachers to take higher education so they can develop their ability and skill and our education system will be better in the future. Having good education means having good generations.

God damn it, we gonna see soon how this country will disappear from the world map.