Through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), the Central Government has made their efforts to accelerate the improvement and equity of education in both Papua and West Papua. Some programs focus on building more schools and dormitories to increase regions’ school participation rates.
In addition, within the last seven years, the government has built 34 junior high schools with dormitories adapted to the geographical conditions of each region. Intervention in providing schools in remote areas is a priority. In particular, the regional government also will prioritize connectivity for schools that are still not facilitated with electricity and internet access.
The following is further information regarding the highlights and challenges of the education development in West Papua.
Education Development in West Papua: The Highlights
Billy Mambrasar, the special staff of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, explained the five essential programs for accelerating the development of various sectors in the Cenderawasih lands through a webinar titled “Untukmu Indonesiaku – Membangun Indonesia Secara Berkelanjutan dari Timur” (For You, My Indonesia – Building Indonesia Sustainably from the Easternmost Part) in Jakarta, back in April 2021.
The organization Orang Asli Papua (OAP) will conduct the program, a form of embodiment of Presidential Constitutions No. 9/Year 2020. It is the President’s commitment to advancing Papua and the Papuan people. Therefore, he issued the Presidential Instruction, which is about the speeding up of development in the Provinces of Papua and West Papua, where the local Papuans will be the prioritized targets of the wellbeing advancement program.
The program, which is called Bawa Perubahan (Bring the Changes), is expected to help deal with many problems in the regions, especially on the welfare and West Papua’s developments in all sectors.
The program is a combo of technical training, capital and processes to connect with the market. Third, launching the Papua Talent Management (MTP) website contains the best talents of the local Papuan youth. They will receive continuous training and get access to plenty of job opportunities in a large variety of industries, both in the private and government sectors. This MTP will be directly managed and supervised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Director General of Regional Autonomy.
Next, there will be promoted construction of the hubs of non-formal studies to provide gateways to education. It is expected that this learning center can acquire skills for survival that accommodate the local circumstances in the areas. The program is integrated at once with the strategy of the Education and Culture Ministry as the governing entity.
The Challenges
The Chief of the Regional Education, Library and Archives Office of Papua, Christian Sohilait, appealed to the Indonesian House of Representatives Commission 10 to stand up for the education development in Papua.
Based on a report from Public Hearings with Commission 10 at The People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia (MPR-RI) and The People’s Representative Council (DPR-RI) in Jakarta, Christian expressed several Papua’s educational issues that had been discussed with the Central Government.
The educational problems mentioned to have been happening in Papua include the teachers’ wellbeing and protection, lack of substructure and supportive equipment, and social and political frictions that affect students quite much.
The frictions between the Free Papua Organization (OPM) and the security personnel have impacted education development and security in the region. For example, the regional officials of Nduga Regency reported that there are approximately 4,000 students who have been out of school for two years and eight months due to the conflict. Another similar case also happens in the Regency of Intan Jaya.
Another problem is the struggles of many teachers in either Papua or West Papua to officially serve as civil servants but with poor social and economic conditions. Christian also brought up budget proposals for 1,400 government employee teachers with work agreements (PPPK) and 3,527 honorary teachers. He asked the teacher’s salary and allowance to be financed by the Central Government.
In the meantime, remote learning program (PJJ) meets some difficulties to be carried out in 64% of Papua region due to poor internet access. Christian stated that the other areas in Indonesia do online studying during the pandemic, but Papua’s students have to do learning outside the network (offline way). He also said that the free internet quota given away by the Ministry of Education and Culture is finally useless in most parts of Papua areas where internet network is a rare thing.
Furthermore, he also complained about several policies released by the Central Government. Those policies fully depend on the method of learning with internet access. One of which is AN or the National Assessment in lieu of the UN or the National Examination, which is computer-based.
Conclusion
It is expected that the Central Government’s programs for education development in West Papua should be accomplished as soon as possible. Therefore, all levels of government and society in the region should work together to achieve the goals. It is because a better Papua land also means a better Indonesia.
