Education
Objective: Improving the Quality of Basic Education
Program Description
The Challenge
- Vulnerability ─ Indonesian children are susceptible to extreme poverty and even though nearly all children enter the primary grades, those who belong to the poorest income quintile drop out first.
- Quality ─ Students have consistently experienced low quality of learning in classrooms, resulting in low academic achievement in international testing.
- Teacher Quality ─ 65% of Indonesia’s 2.7 million teachers are under qualified.
- Management ─ Local governments lack the capacity to organize and effectively manage its teaching force or the reforms in education.
The Goal
- Support a decentralized effort for quality and relevant education
- Encourage the Indonesian government to increase its investment in education
- Support Indonesia’s democratic transition
- Expand an educated workforce that will promote international investment and stability
Better Student and School Performance
In 2003, President Bush announced a $157 million, five-year Presidential Education Initiative to energize and improve the quality of education in Indonesia’s state-run religious and public schools. The approach has emphasized critical thinking and reasoning skills, lively lessons, engaged teachers, and interested parents to promote tolerance, employment readiness, and student centered learning for a participatory democracy. Since the start of the Presidential Initiative, more than 1,272 schools, 21,069 educators, and 345,983 students have benefitted directly from USG assistance to improve teaching and learning, better school management, and community participation. At both national and local levels this Presidential Initiative has ignited donor and Indonesian interest in joint coordination and cooperation to extend USAID practices across the far-flung archipelago. The initiative has leveraged $555,000 from non-USG sources where activities are being implemented in 3,200 new schools and thereby laying the base for a more widely established and enduring legacy. By 2010, the program is expected to reach 9000 schools with the promotion of ownership and dissemination of new methods for delivering basic education assistance directly to the local level where it can be more effectively and accountably targeted.
Programs:
DECENTRALIZED BASIC EDUCATION (DBE)
As the main component of the Presidential Indonesia Education Initiative, the Decentralized Basic Education Project focuses on improving the quality and relevance of basic education in primary and junior secondary schools. Through technical assistance and training, the program has three goals: to assist local governments and communities to manage education services more effectively; to enhance teaching and learning to improve student performance in key subjects such as math, science and reading; and to ensure that Indonesia’s youth gain more relevant life and work skills to better compete for jobs in the modern economy. USAID successfully utilizes public-private alliances to mobilize corporate sector resources for education. In partnership with ConocoPhillips, USAID is helping rehabilitate schools damaged by the May 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta as well as Central Java; and Intel is helping teachers use technology in their classrooms. Partnerships with three U.S. universities – the University of Pittsburg, Florida State University, and the University of Massachusetts – and 14 Indonesian universities, are enabling teachers participating in the program to receive academic credit for their work, helping them meet new Government of Indonesia recertification requirements. DBE also promotes the use of information technology for education; the importance of early childhood education; in-service teacher training and non-formal work and life skills.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN
This program prepares the foundation for an inclusive education system by focusing on the educational rights and needs to serve children with visual impairment (blindness and low vision) and other disabilities children including intellectual and cognitive disabilities, hearing impairments, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and autism by using an effective model for inclusion of special needs students within the public education infrastructure that benefits both inclusive students and other disenfranchised populations. These activities have led to a substantial increase in the number of children with special needs attending school, and increases in the availability and quality of inclusive education services. Replicable models are have been implemented in Aceh, South Sulawesi and Central Java. In partnership with Ministry of National Education (MONE), local universities and Disabled Person’s Organizations (DPOs), and the Hilton Perkins International a pre-service university level program is being developed to equip new teachers with effective teaching strategies and clear understanding of children with special needs.
SESAME STREET INDONESIA / JALAN SESAMA
In partnership with the Sesame Workshop, USAID is supporting the development of a new Indonesian co-production of the renowned Sesame Street television show. Indonesia’s “Jalan Sesama” is one of the largest partnerships between USAID and the Sesame Workshop. By watching “Jalan Sesama” millions of Indonesian children will be better equipped to start and stay in school. The program went on the air in 2007 and more than 3 million Indonesian children have viewed the broadcast. The show is currently ranked second in its time slot.
HIGHER EDUCATION
The Indonesia Education Initiative, run by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy, complements USAID’s Basic Education Programs with a range of educational scholarships and exchanges, and English language learning opportunities. A partnership with the University of Kentucky is assisting three Indonesian Universities to upgrade their academic programs in areas critical for economic growth such as agriculture, business, engineering, and public administration. A three-way partnership between USAID, the Government of Aceh Province and Chevron supports the development of the Aceh Polytechnic, a new institution to provide quality education in applied technology fields such as information technology and electrical engineering that are in high demand in the region.