TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said she has invited technology-based service and content providers, Ruang Guru, to her office. The goal is to find out what system the company implements to monitor teachers who have joined them.
Ruang Guru is a platform for tutoring based on digital applications.
According to Sri, it is time for the government to monitor the quality of classroom teachers.
"If we can track and monitor all classrooms, we can find out about teachers' accountability, for example, if there are bad and incompetent ones," she said Jakarta, Wednesday, November 22.
The minister then said that the fund disbursed for education is fantastic but the result is still below par. There are some four million teachers in Indonesia, and the national education expenditure allocation reaches Rp440 trillion.
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"If we include medical and social safety net bills, the figure could reach Rp600 trillion, which is bigger than infrastructure spending of Rp410 trillion."
She then compared the quality of Indonesia's education with Vietnam, a country that also allocates 20 percent of their state budget for education.
"Vietnam's mathematics and science abilities are number 8 in the world. Meanwhile, Indonesia ranks at number 53. We have the same amount of spending, but the results are very different," she said.
This shows that in education, money is not everything, Sri Mulyani said. The minister continued by saying that economic observers like INDEF should start campaigning that education is not about how much money is allocated, but how that money can make the people more intelligent and healthy.
Sri Mulyani also requested that all parties involve the millennial generation in addressing the situation.
"Our millennial generation should be involved by having discussions about health and education. And we have to invite them to oversee programs that are important for them, otherwise they could be the worst millennials in the world," she said.
CAESAR AKBAR
