28th March 2006. Sampoerna Foundation (SF) announced that it would launch the education journalist award in near future. This statement was delivered by Director of Communication, Sapto H. Sakti minutes before the opening of the Media Executive Forum in Hilton Hotel, Jakarta.

“This award is expected to improve and elevate the enthusiasm of the journalists in covering news related to education,” Sapto added.

According to Sapto, the awards are divided into four categories, from features for the national printed media, features for regional printed media, features for the national television and features for the regional television.

The winners of the award will be announced in December 2006. Communication and Information Ministry, Sofyan Djalil, who was present as a spokesperson in the Media Executive Forum for Education, responded positively towards the journalistic award. He believed that the mass media is one of effective tool to shape the education paradigm in Indonesia that tends to be quite rigid.
 
Sofyan pointed out that presently, most students are not very adaptive to the environment. They might be experts in theories, but when it comes to practical content, they are incapable. This is a result of burdening the students with too many theoretical and boring subject matters. Thus, a huge number of students experiences stress when face with studying.

“Our curriculum is designed for the top 10% students. Meanwhile, the distribution of IQ in our population is normal. Only 10% of our smart students have the IQ of above 120. On the other hand, the average IQ of the rest is 85-115, however our curriculum is intended to match the 10%,” Sofyan asserted.  

Mochtar Buchori, a columnist and education expert, felt the same. He claimed that it is likely that most students will aim for the titles when they continue their studies, yet lack the empirical ability to solve problems in their surroundings. They do not know the filed and often are only good at theories. "Now, the emphasis is the symbolic value, which to get Undergraduate degrees,” Mochtar added.

Sofyan and Mochtar both confirmed that the journalistic award in education is highly crucial.

About Executive Media Forum

This is an independent discussion forum for education attended by the executives in Indonesian media mass. The forum is expected to become the meeting point to discuss and formulate solution for education in Indonesia.