The House of Representatives’ Commission X, which oversees education, criticized Wednesday the National Education Ministry’s program to provide schools with Internet access.
The program, part of the ministry’s 100-day plan, was laid out before legislators at a working meeting at the House.
Legislators said providing schools with Internet access was not feasible.
Angelina Sondakh, from the Democratic Party, said many students in Central Java had complained about the program because although their schools had been equipped with computers, the unreliable electricity supply and low bandwidth in their areas had made connecting to the Internet a rarity.
“I agree with connecting schools nationwide to the Internet, and God willing it can be done within the 100 days,” she said.
“But how about the program’s continuation? If we apply this program in the first 100 days of the new minister’s [tenure], we won’t be able to afford to maintain it in 2010.
“It’ll be a waste,” Angelina went on.
“The computers we bought from the 2007, 2008 and 2009 budgets will be neglected because they can’t be used to connect to the Internet. So you’ve got to ensure there is good bandwidth connection right down to the village level.”
Fellow Democratic Party legislator Jefirstson R. Riwu Kore also doubted the so-called e-school
program would be a success, with many teachers unable to operate a computer.
“How will they teach their students to use the Internet when they can’t even use a computer?”
he asked.
“Not to mention the problems with poor electricity supply.”
National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said in his presentation before members of the commission, which also oversees sports, culture and tourism, that during his first 100 days heading up the ministry, he would connect 17,500 more schools across the country to the Internet.
He said this was part of former education minister Bambang Sudibyo’s National Education Network (Jardiknas) program, which has already granted Internet access to 18,000 schools, or 8 percent of the country’s 216,700 schools, since its launch in 2006.
“I’m sure that, despite these concerns, we can use the Internet in our education system with increasing computer penetration and the growth of electronic equipment distribution,” said Nuh, who previously served as information and communications minister.
“There’s definitely a problem with the electricity supply, but we shouldn’t let that hamper the development of the Internet [for use in education].”
The ministry’s other 100-day programs include improving educators’ capacities, providing university scholarships for underprivileged and outstanding students, and issuing a special policy to assign teachers to remote and border regions.
Also on the list of 100-day programs are developing national culture and character, education methodology, and entrepreneurship education at schools, as well as setting out the ministry’s five-year strategic plans.
Commission X deputy chairman Heri Akhmadi, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), criticized the programs, saying three of them were mere continuations of programs rolled out by the previous minister, while the results of five others would only be on paper and not tangible.
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