We trust our teachers. That is very important, and it’s not easy to realize in all country. The culture of trust we have in Finland
(Reijo Laukkanen, Finnish National Board of Education in Helsinki)
It is not long time ago, I was browsing in the internet, and I was very happy finding some writings I wrote long time ago, such as (1) Tata Tertib Sekolah (the rule of school), (2) Kecerdasan Ganda (multiple intelligences), and another writing about education, The writings were quoted by SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Nanggung, Bogor, for their school personal website. I do hope that the writings have a great benefit for the school and the society as well. I have a great pleasure to know this quotation.
But, last two days ago, I heard the shocking news from television that there is a student of Muhammadiyah in the Province of Central Java who burned their school. The information explains that the event occurred because just of the bullying process by their own friends. What kind of bullying, how long and how hard is the process of the bullying is not explained deeper and wider by the principal of the school, and from the chairperson of the school committee. This short writing is making the information of the burning the school of Muhammadiyah to be awareness for all educational stakeholder of the school and all leader and members of the institution of Muhammadiyah. Remember this Indonesian wise word “setitik nila akan merusak susu sebelanga.” It is too danger for the institution of Muhammadiyah,
This is an educational event. According to John Dewey, education is life itself. So, the burning school or education building is the same with the burning life itself. Is the problem just stop in this event of school burning? No! We still have many problems of education. What is wrong with the education in Indonesia?
Firstly, the student
Student is one of the three main components of education. The three educational components are (1) student, (2) teacher, and (3) curriculum. When I was talking about these three main components of education, a member of the school committee in Batam Municipalities, the Province of Riau Island is asking the component of facilities. She said that, in the era of communication and information technology, facilities is one of the important components in education, including the school building. That is why facility is one of the problems of education, beside the student. Yes, I agree that student is the main component. But, educational facility is also the main component. In this case, Indonesia still has many collapsed school building problems. Again, the education facility is the main component of education.
Yes, student is more important than the subject delivered in the process of teaching and learning. Student in the school of Muhammadiyah who burned their school is a big problem. Why the student could be guilty of such action to burn their school building? Is it just because of bullying only? Off course, the morality of the students in the school is a big problem of education in Indonesia. Character education is the key must be implemented in education. This event of burning the school building has to be a reflection in education. Do the teachers in the school, parents in their home, and the leaders in societal life have been given the example for our children? We have to answer these questions. In factual life, we know that many prisons are full, but the taklim activities only attended one to ten people only. This is the reality in our life.
Parent and their home
The parents of the student are another component. They are the main and the first teacher of the students. They are the member of school committee. The school and the school committee must be joining together to solve the problem of education in school, including morality of the students in the school. Parents and the school committee is the supervisor and escort the students. The parents and school committee have the responsibility to supervise and escort the students in their school and in their societal life.
From solving the problems about the burning school building, we are all actually thinking and acting about: (1) improving the morality of the student, (2) improving the competence of the teacher in teaching and educating their students, (3) improving the competence of the parents as the member of school committee, (4) increasing the process of supervising and escort the students, (5) reminding the leaders of bureaucracy, especially community leaders to reorganize institutions and organizations.
Reflection
It is better to finish this writing. We still have many problems of education. The most important program is to improve the quality of education. Indonesia has a successful program in education equity, but Indonesia is still a long way to touch the quality of education. In this education quality, we probably would be surprised if the reading competence of the elementary school children in Indonesia are still under Vietnamese elementary school. That’s why we still have a lot of problems we have to face this time and in the next time.
*) Laman: www.suparlan.com; Surel: me@suparlan.com.
Depok, 24 Mei 2016.
