Govt Neglect Means Poor Must Self-Educate in Indonesia
Children walk home from school in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. (JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara. In 1987 Yakobus Taek, a corn farmer, gave away the land he inherited to the local education agency so that a school could be erected in his remote home village of Loohali.
Yakobus cut down trees and collected roofing material to create a temporary building for the primary school.
His generosity and passion to further his village's education has become a legend among the small community of families.
"In the past, children had to walk five kilometers to attend primary school," he told the Jakarta Globe. "As a result, you are only able to go to school when you are older. Children who are 12 to 13 years old were still in grade one in primary school."
Today, Yakobus is 50 years old, but his desire to ensure that the people in his village be properly educated remains strong.
"Educated people have many opportunities. Stupid people cannot go anywhere," Yakobus said. "You get more money if you are smart," he said with a laugh.
The national shortage of good teachers and teaching facilities is especially pronounced in East Nusa Tenggara.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment rankings, which looked at student aptitude in 65 countries, placed Indonesia 64th, ahead of only Peru.
In the UK-based Pearson rankings, which looked at 40 countries in 2013, Indonesia came in dead last.
The Indonesian government spent Rp 331.8 trillion ($34.9 billion) on education in its 2013 state budget, an increase of 6.7 percent from the Rp 310.8 trillion allocated in 2012, making the sector the top recipient of state budgetary money for 2013. But the resources are yet to have any significant impact on communities as far-flung as Loohali.
The need for education is felt just as acutely in neighboring Raifatus village, a small community serenely located in a valley between two mountains — and home to 48-year-old village chief Wilhelmus Muti.
Wilhelmus, whose highest qualification is a graduation certificate from sixth grade in primary school, has a particularly high regard for education.
"Education is very important, because it determines your future," he said.
It was Wilhelmus's academic failure in his early years that has shaped his views.
He told the Jakarta Globe that he was once determined to succeed as a rice farmer. He said he spent a month to clear up 1.5 hectares of land in a forest near his village.
He used his savings to rent a hand tractor and turned the cleared land into paddy fields. He then hired people to help him plant rice in the fields.
When harvest season came, he hired a truck and more people to collect the yield. In the end, after about three months of waiting, his rice harvest only earned him Rp 2.5 million, far below his expectation. Meanwhile, his total expenses came to Rp 8 million.
He was mired in debt and dismay, and blamed himself for the failure. He told the Jakarta Globe that things would have been different if he had been better educated.
He said he would have known how to better fertilize his rice and how to better irrigate his paddy field — thereby obtaining higher harvest yields. It was this incident that motivated Wilhelmus to ensure that his children and family have the best possible education.
Today, Wilhelmus spends at least one hour a day reading story books to his son who is still in grade one. He also helped to pay the education of his niece Edeltrudis Soi.
Twenty-one-year-old Edeltrudis, who is called kembang desa (the village's flower) by the locals, has an exceptional passion for learning. Born a corn farmer's daughter in the remote village, Edeltrudis had to walk for about a two kilometers every morning to fetch water from a well before going to school.
Her elder brother left East Nusa Tenggara five years ago to work as a helper at a palm oil plantation in Kalimantan. He left in order to make enough money for the family and to pay the money needed for Edeltrudis's education. Both her family's support and her own determination to learn has brought her far.
The farmer's daughter is now a university student at the Open University of Atambua, pursuing her bachelor of science in education.
"[My] parents have struggled hard. I must succeed," she said, adding that she wants to become a primary school teacher.
"I want to teach in my village. I want the children here to be smart," she said. Now, besides studying, Edeltrudis spends her time teaching and tending to her younger brother.
There are individuals who, against all odds, showed outstanding passion for learning and education in even the most remote parts of East Nusa Tenggara.
Raifatus is located just two kilometers away from the border between Indonesia and Timor-Leste — an area reached by a long journey through dramatic and mountainous terrain. But while rich in natural beauty, the region is one of the most underdeveloped in Indonesia both in terms of infrastructure and human capital.
Nusa Tenggara is one of five regions with the highest illiteracy rate in the country, with over 5 percent of its adult population unable to read.
Many fail to complete grade three in primary school, and some have received no education at all.
Approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of Belu district's students fail to pass the national exam both in primary school and in middle school.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Nusa Tenggara, along with other regions including Papua, West Papua and West Sulawesi, have the highest percentage of illiterate people aged between 15 and 44 years.
The area is also known for poor rates of vaccination and a high rate of child malnutrition.
Save the Children invited the Jakarta Globe to visit villages in East Nusa Tenggara.
Posted by: "Sunny" <ambon@tele2.se>
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