Sampoerna Foundation

Home

Untitled Document

Indonesia's education sinking further'

Republika (05/10/04): Education in Indonesia still receives less than maximum attention from the government. Amidst tighter global competition, Indonesia's education isn't getting better but getting worse. The small subsidy budgeted by the government for education, a mere 9% or Rp4 trillion, is one of Indonesian education's many problems.

According to Rector Deputy I of Unisba, Dr ING I Suparno Satira, and educational problems also emerge from the communities themselves. “Low interest in reading among the young generation and the wrong views on by some people on education are also serious problems,” he said in a National Seminar entitled Society under Constellation of Indonesia’s Politic, Economy and Education held by Unisba in Bale Pakuan on Monday (4/10).

Inspector General of the Ministry of National Education, Dr. Ir. Soeparna MS, admitted to the government’s insufficient support to education. “The government has tried to do its best but the limited budget for education has been the major constrain. Yet, in the future, we do hope education subsidy will approach the desired figure,” he said.

Neither can Indonesia’s higher education escape from education problems. Suparno Satira is concerned so much about the declining quality of Indonesia’s education. “How is it possible that ITB which has long been widely known is now on the position of 15th in Asia, while UGM is 40th,” he added.

Meanwhile, education observer, Dr. Irfan Safrudin added that only 0.035% of all Indonesia’s workforce graduated from higher education. Such low number of graduates in the job sector can be a hint about how bad is Indonesia’s education output.

At basic level of education, the current large number of school dropouts has been a critical problem. In Bandung alone, some 12,300 (24.92 percent) school-age children (7-15 years old) cannot continue their studies.

“The ever-increasing cost of education has been, on average, the main cause of dropouts,” said treasurer of Gapura (Charity Moment for People) Foundation, Ir. Abdullah S, in Bandung.
He added that support from people is required to boost education. Establishment of free-of-charge schools for poor people, he added, can be one of many efforts to address education problem at basic level.

About Us

Sampoerna Foundation (SF) is a professional philanthropy organization and a service provider for Corporate Social Responsibility with a commitment to education. Since its inception in 2001, SF has awarded more than 32,000 scholarships, supported 23 schools and trained over 10,000 teachers throughout Indonesia.

With the vision to create future young leaders with strong moral fiber through quality education, SF began by providing scholarships to financially disadvantaged children with good academic standing. In 2005, SF formulated a program for School Development to develop best-practice, state-owned high schools as models for other surrounding schools to emulate.

In 2006, SF launched the first, private Teacher Institute to improve the skills and professional development of Indonesian teachers. Today, this has evolved into a government licensed, degree-granting Institute with international accreditation to develop a new generation of teachers. SF also recently launched the Sampoerna Academies, which are international standard boarding schools, integrated with national curriculum and dormitory living for poor children in rural areas.

The Sampoerna Foundation is committed to professionalism, transparency and accountability and was awarded the ISO9001;2000 certification for its quality management systems.