Indonesia

National Focus: Indonesia's second 25 Year Long Term Development Plan, covering the period 1994-1995 to 2018-2019, emphasizes the economy as the most decisive factor of national development. Yet, steady improvement of a society cannot be separated from investments made in human capital, specifically that of the nation's educational system. This requires a financial commitment on the part of the government to ensure universal application of compulsory education for all students without regard to their ability to pay, adequately trained and compensated teachers, newly constructed and rehabilitated classrooms, textbooks, and other quality teaching tools.

Administrative Coordination: Consolidation of education oversight, from several ministries to one, would allow for better coordinated efforts, as well as redirect duplicated administrative costs to the field. Of further benefit would be the creation of a master plan, a roadmap to the future, with clear concepts, involving all elements of the education system—state and local governance, teachers, parents, and students.

Teacher Training Institute: Studies offered at the Teacher Training Institute should maintain flexibility so as to respond to the numerous trends and challenges within education. Flexibility, coupled with educational quality improvement programs (creating, monitoring, and evaluating systems of educational quality) will help the institute to become an inseparable part of the educational process.

Private Sector Participation: Industries require job-specific trained employees from the educational system; yet, as global markets shift and the Indonesian economy matures, higher critical thinking skills will be required of the work force. A system that might better serve the needs of students and businesses alike would be a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the private sector, in which the nation's education system equips students with the fundamentals required for work readiness while private industry teaches specific job skills. This partnership would allow the nation's education system to attain excellence in designing a well-balanced, broad spectrum approach of preparing future workers.

Higher Education: Universities are being challenged to become independent institutions, free from government subsidy and involvement. Yet it is a nation's commitment to public education that most contributes to the prosperity and well being of society. Should the nation continue to disavow itself from higher education, negative outcomes might result. For example, without state-sponsored schools, only elitists could afford to attend school; the nation might experience a "brain-drain" with students attending affordable schools in other lands and remaining there to work. Scrambling for resources, some schools of higher education are bound to disappear over time, thereby weakening Indonesia's overall educational offerings. The government (MOEC) must remain involved in higher education, in order to equip future generations, ensure institutional improvements through a national accreditation system for public and private universities, and encourage research for resolving issues of national import.