Submitted by sep_admin on Fri, 2017-02-17 23:46
Indonesia has made great strides in providing access to basic education, including to its poorest citizens. To make a successful transition to a competitive middle-income country its citizens must have the education and technical skills to accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and strengthen Indonesia's role in the global economy. With these goals in mind new initiatives are required. Effective reform to improve nine-year basic education will require that schools and districts be held publicly accountable for the delivery of quality education services. Ensuring accountability will require: 1) mandatory use of assessment instruments to continuously monitor the individual student's progress; 2) mandatory use of report cards by districts and schools to increase public awareness of service delivery; 3) that power and budget be given to schools to hire and fire contractual teachers; and 4) regular assessments of teacher performance in the classroom by head teachers and school inspectors, and use of --classroom effectiveness clinics-- to improve the quality of teaching. The central government needs to provide schools and districts the tools to assess and provide feedback about student and teacher performance, reform the school-level staffing formula, finance teachers through block grants that are proportional to the enrollment or school-age population; promote multi-grade teaching and allow teachers to be certified in multiple subjects.