Several university professors from all over Indonesia appreciate and welcome the response of the government and the House of Representatives (DPR), which had issued a decision to revoke all provisions of articles relating to the education sector in the Job Creation Bill. The reason is that the education cluster design in the regulation is very counterproductive and detrimental to the development and progress of the world of education in Indonesia. “In the end, the government and DPR still want to hear various aspirations, criticisms, and input from various parties, especially from academics,” said Chair of the Board of Professors UGM, Prof. Koentjoro, in the webinar on the Critical Review of Indonesian Professors on the Bill on Job Creation for the Education and Culture Sector, Tuesday (29/9).
After revoking the education cluster in the bill, Koentjoro asked the DPR and the government to remain consistent not to include the substance of the national education regulation, either in government regulation or other regulations that are a derivation of the job creation bill.
On the contrary, he encouraged Commission X to immediately initiate and issue an initiative to revise the new National Education System (Sisdiknas) Bill with the omnibus law model. He said the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System, which has been in effect for almost seventeen years, is considered insufficient to respond to the problems and challenges of education disruption in the present and the future. “It needs adjustment to the dynamics of changing times in the present and future contexts,” he explained.
The webinar organized by the UGM Board of Professors also invited speakers from professors from other universities, members of the DPR and DPD RI.
Professor of Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Prof. Dr. Ari Purbayanto, said that after the issuance of the education cluster in the Job Creation Bill, academics and university professors need to revise the National Education System to strengthen the education system in Indonesia. The same thing was also conveyed by Prof. Cecep Darmawan from the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. According to him, education is a public sector, so there is no commercialization goal.
While Prof. Ganjar Kurnia from Padjadjaran University criticized the disappearance of the phrase Indonesian culture in the Job Creation Bill. According to him, there is no cultural phrase in the draft of this bill, even though to create superior human resources, it is necessary to understand the national insight and defend the state, Pancasila, Bhineka Tunggal Ika, and the Unitary Republic of Indonesia. “If foreign universities are allowed to enter, will this be taught again?” he said.
Even in this bill, said Ganjar Kurnia, foreign universities have no rules to provide students with religious, Indonesian, and civic education content. “Even though the aim is to increase competitiveness and the economy alone, character education is ignored and leaves the cultural value of the national education goals,” he said.
Chairman of Commission X DPR RI, Syaiful Huda, said that his party agreed to issue an education article in the Job Creation Bill because it considered input and rejection from community elements. “Recommendations from Commission X, we ask for the education cluster to be issued with various considerations. Of course, we want significant changes that are more suitable for the revision of the National Education System to be included in the Prolegnas in 2021,” he said.
