2013 Education Curriculum Guaranteed Relevant for 20 Years Ahead

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, Musliar Kasim, guaranteed that the 2013 Curriculum would still be relevant to be implemented in Indonesia up to 20 years ahead. He claimed that in the composition stage, the curriculum had been prepared to face the wave of globalization. Education of Indonesia nowadays pays a disproportionate focus on cognitive aspects, which ends up burdening students too much. "There is a deficit of character teaching," said Musliar in his office on Wednesday.

During the composition of the curriculum, many experts were involved, including experts from various universities and many teachers. "We have chosen the best people, from many places," Musliar stated.

Musliar then explained that the compilation of books and training of teachers that were executed directly by the Education and Culture Ministry (Kemendikbud) will also guarantee the quality of the curriculum. Books compilations and teachers training involve the best teachers, university lecturers, and informants. "We involved teachers and lecturers who had participated in a training held by AUSAID and USAID."

The purpose of the training, he said, is to change the way teachers deliver materials to students. "We would also provide motivational materials for teachers that would involve Rhenald Kasali," he explained. According to the budget of the curriculum implementation, the training would cost up to Rp 521 billion.

Kemendikbud would implement the 2013 Curriculum starting from the new school year on July 15, 2013. However, not all schools in Indonesia would be targets of implementations. Only 6,325 schools would start applying the curriculum in the next school year. Nevertheless, Kemendikbud refused to call this an experiment. They preferred to name it gradual implementation.

TRI ARTINING PUTRI