Warning of 'Talent Shortage' as Indonesia's Education System Fails Nation
A boy crosses one of Jakarta's heavily polluted and trash-clogged rivers in a wooden boat to get to school. (Reuters Photo/Enny Nuraheni).
Jakarta. While over a hundred thousand workers are preparing to demand better pay in the May Day rallies expected in Jakarta on Thursday, Vice President Boediono has spoken of a crisis of competence in Indonesia's mid-level workers.
In his speech at the Green Infrastructure Summit 2014 in Jakarta on Tuesday, Boediono claimed that Indonesia's economic development cannot be sustainable if Indonesia fails to produce a better-qualified workforce.
"These days, we often hear how employers face difficulties in recruiting able workers locally," Boediono said.
In the same vein, the International Labor Organization's 2013 Country Report for Indonesia has highlighted the Indonesian workers' lack of qualifications. "In short, most of Indonesia's labor market, consisted of low-education individuals."
"Although steadily increasing, the number of [Indonesia's] employed population that is university level is relatively small," the ILO stated in its report.
As a rapidly developing economy, Indonesia requires well-educated workers to meet the challenges of its own economic growth. However, the Boston Consulting Group reported in 2013 that only a little more than 20 percent of college-age Indonesians are currently enrolled in a school in Indonesia — a lower percentage than in Brazil, Russia and China.
Furthermore, almost 60 percent of Indonesian graduates leave their first job within their first three years. More than a third switch jobs more than once within the same period.
Indonesian students' education levels are lagging at a time when its economy is accelerating. The report from the BSG warned of a "looming talent shortage" in Indonesia by 2020.
The consulting firm predicted that at today's rate, by 2020 Indonesian employers will face difficulties in finding well-qualified employees to fill up more than 50 percent of their entry-level positions. The engineering field is predicted to be one of the worst-hit in the coming talent drought.
Should Indonesia fail to educate its growing young population adequately, the outlook is grim. Observers are concerned that without an adequate number of qualified workers to sustain its economy, Indonesia's development will stutter.
The nations' so-called "demographic surplus" could in turn become the nation's very own time bomb.
There is a need to reform the education sector in order to produce more better-educated Indonesians, experts say. With the impending implementation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, Indonesian workers have to be qualified to be able to stand up in the face of fierce regional competition. Currently the Indonesian government is spending a tremendous amount of money on the education sector. Of Indonesia's Rp 1.8 quadrillion ($156 billion) 2014 state budget, Rp 368.9 trillion is apportioned for education.
To put the enormity of the education fund into context, the government spends only a total of Rp 22 trillion on agriculture and fisheries and maritime affairs for food security. Yet, the education sector does not meet the expectations of many.
Only three Indonesian universities made it into the Times Higher Education survey's top 400 universities. They are Gadjah Mada University (UGM; ranked 360), the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB; ranked 369) and the University of Indonesia (UI; ranked 395).
Experts contend that the reason behind Indonesia's underperforming education sector is two-fold. The education system is far from being meritocratic, and on top of that corruption pervades the system.
Hikmahanto Juwana, a law professor at the University of Indonesia argued that unmeritocratic practices account for the Indonesian educational institutes' low performance. "Students that do not merit admission are given admission because of their parents' influence. This is unfair to those without money and connections," he said. "Those who go up the system in a way that is not meritocratic will affect the institution's quality."
Ade Irawan from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) agreed that corruption has hurt the quality of the entire system. "Corruption has pervaded all levels in the education sector, not only in the Education Ministry and its agencies, but also in classrooms," he said. "It has to be fixed from the top down, both in the Education and Cultural Ministry as well as in the education agencies."
The coming presidential election is especially important in this respect. Reformists will be hoping for a president that can stress the importance of a cleaner and better education system for the nation
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