Education in Indonesia

Schools in Indonesia: Part of the problem

After living in Indonesia for 3 years I can identify 2 main problems that exist here. 1) Low level of education 2) Little respect for the rule of law. These 2 are connected and lead to a vicious cycle. When I read a news article about people embezzling money, and mention it to Ika, she’ll say “Nice ya, they get all the money.”

In response I tell her that a quick payoff might seem nice, but it puts honest people out of business, and leads to a massive distrust of anyone.

Back to education. Schools in Indonesia vary tremendously, just as they do in every country. Even in the US, if you go to Orange County California, next to LA, you will find great schools, great teachers, high level of education. If you go to the back woods of S.Carolina (I used to live in that area briefly) you’ll find less well equipped schools, and former students with no higher education, teaching class!

Here in Indonesia, its way worse than that. Places like Bandung, Semarang, Jakarta etc have universities. Get out to more remote place like Nusa Penida in Bali, or Sumba, and you won’t find that. Ika was telling me recently, that she feels many Indonesians halfway know stuff. For example, she said her Math teacher told the class, “this subject we’re studying, is a much higher level, than even in a western country.” Ika said the students didn’t really get a handle on it, and it was more for show, than for knowledge. I don’t know, I’ve never sat in an Indonesian school class.

If you come to Bali, you might ask a teacher if you can sit in a class, or even teach part of an English class. I did an impromptu English class in Solo Java back in 1993.

The Jakarta Post talks about a lady named Herdiana Kiehl, who dreams of raising the level of education across the board in Indonesia.Herdiana Kiehl: Committed to giving children decent schools

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

“Good morning, Ibu, good morning, Ibu,” shouted children living at the foot of Mount Salak, West Java, upon seeing Herdiana pass by.

From Ciherang Pondok village in Caringin district, Bogor regency, the children tried to be the first to shake hands with Herdiana.

She withdrew her hands before the kids had time to kiss them. “Please, don’t kiss my hands yet because I haven’t washed them. They are not yet hygienic,” Herdiana said, embracing the kids individually.

Herdiana Kiehl is a woman with a very warm heart. She pays a lot of attention to the life and education of children in the more remote parts in Bogor.

Almost every month Herdiana, who has long held a dream of teaming up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to establish schools in remote places all over Indonesia, visit the schools under her patronage at the foot of Mount Salak, Bogor regency.

She said she was happy to hear the village kids greet her in English. This is evidence that the children are practicing the English she has taught them.

Herdiana is married to Michael Kiehl, a German. She accompanied her husband when he was appointed general manager of Grand Hyatt hotels in various countries, including Germany (Berlin), Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

They eventually returned to Indonesia as Michael decided to settle permanently here with his family.

A graduate of the school of law of Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, West Java, Herdiana once worked as a lawyer at a number of famous lawyers’ offices in Jakarta.

Between 1980 and 1990 she worked at O.C. Kaligis law practice and between 1991 and 1992 she set up a law firm together with Elsa Syarief (which became Elsa Syarief & Herdiana law firm).

Herdiana is still a practicing lawyer, though less busy these days. She used to handle civil and criminal cases but these days handles only matters related to corporate and business law.

“Although I’m still a practicing lawyer, I’m not as active as I was before. I’m not strong enough to deal with the “court mafia” in handling civil and criminal cases. I cannot afford to bribe judges, prosecutors and the police, so I’ve given up handling civil and criminal cases. Currently, I only deal with corporate law,” she said.

When asked why she was involved in education, working hard to repair school buildings and spend time with village children on the slopes of Mount Salak, teaching them English and cosmography, Herdiana said, “I began to become interested in education when I saw how many school buildings were such a poor state of repair, particularly in remote villages in Bogor.

“Thousands of school buildings were like this. The textbooks used were not in conformity with the prevailing curriculum. When a school building is in such poor condition, the students will not feel comfortable and the teachers will always be worried because the building might collapse at any time.

“If children do not have the right textbooks, they will be left behind. Imagine, they had textbooks that were used about two decades before,” she said.

According to data from the National Education Ministry, about 90,000 elementary school buildings are in poor condition throughout Indonesia. In Bogor alone, there are about 1,700 such buildings.

Therefore, in 2002 she decided to set up a non-governmental organization (NGO) called LSM Peduli Pendidikan (Education Concern). Its office is at her house in Rancamaya Golf & Estate Ciawi, Bogor regency.

Then, in 2003, digging into her own pocket, she had the first school building repaired. Later she worked hard to find financial donations from various sources. The Australian and Germany embassies, Rotary Club Jakarta Menteng and the Harley Davidson owners club are her most frequent donors.

Thanks to her hard work, eight elementary schools in Bogor have been repaired.

The construction of four elementary school buildings was financed by Rotary Club Jakarta Menteng at a total cost of Rp 250 million.

Of all school buildings that have been rehabilitated, she said that the building housing SDN Ciherang Pondok was the best, the rehabilitation cost amounting to over Rp 250 million.

“To construct the building for SDN Ciherang Pondok, I received donations amounting to Rp 150 million from the Australian Embassy and over Rp 100 million from Rotary Club Jakarta Menteng.

“The Australian Embassy pays great attention to education matters. Australian envoy Bill Farmer visited the village at the foot of Mount Salak for the inauguration of SD Ciherang Pondok,” said Herdiana, who has one daughter.

Herdiana said that education in Indonesia was deplorable and that Indonesia lagged behind Vietnam.

Now that Herdiana has had the eight schools renovated or rebuilt she has also recruited more teachers. Each school must have six teachers and apply the latest curriculum. She has also supplied the schools with the necessary textbooks.

In addition, she has also raised the salary of non-permanent teachers in these eight schools so that they will earn an average of Rp 250,000 per month.

“We have provided a subsidy for 33 non-permanent teachers. We have also granted scholarships to badly-off children in these eight elementary schools so that they can go on to study at junior high school.”

Usually, Herdiana keeps a close eye on the sanitation at the eight elementary schools under her patronage. When she visits the schools, she teaches English and cosmography to the students there.

“I teach them English in the hope that they will understand the language early in their lives. I also teach them cosmography because the children from the foot of Mount Salak are familiar only with heaven, hell and earth. That is bad because they could easily be brainwashed into becoming religious fundamentalists or fanatics.”

Born in Subang, West Java, on Sept. 11, 1963, Herdiana enjoys her work very much although she does not earn anything from these activities. Still, the work makes her happy.

“I’m happy to see village kids wearing their red-and-white uniforms, walking together to school along a narrow path and through the rice fields. They are keen to go to because their schools are welcoming and clean.

Although she has to visit remote rural places very frequently, her family lends her great support. Her daughter Cinta Laura, now aged 12, is a seventh-grade student at Bogor International School (ISB).

Meanwhile, husband Michael, now busy as a hotel consultant, also supports Herdiana very much, although at first he was worried for Herdiana’s safety because she had to travel up and down hills to visit remote rural areas in her social mission. Michael once suggested that she be accompanied by a personal bodyguard.

Herdiana is obsessed with her long-term program of rehabilitating school buildings that are in bad repair in remote rural areas across the country.

“That’s my dream. To realize it, there’s only one party that can help me: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Every day I pray to God that he will make this dream come true.”