Educational investment in conflict areas of Indonesia: The case of West Papua Province

Education has become a central issue in West Papua. During the Suharto regime, the Indonesian government paid little attention to educational investment in the province which led to poor educational infrastructure and a shortage of teachers. As a result, the quality of human resources in the province is poor. Since 2001, the adoption of the Special Autonomy Law has seen education emerge as a priority program for local government. Improving the quality of human resources to match standards in other provinces has emerged as a new challenge for the province. The article highlights the critical issues relating to the education system, education investment and policy formulation to support the development of West Papua.

An Overview of Education in West Papua

The educational situation in West Papua in the 1970s was very poor. The lack of school facilities and teachers were the major obstacles to the improvement of the education system in West Papua. To address the anticipated teacher shortages in Papua, the Indonesian government supplied teachers from Java. As a result, massive numbers of primary school teachers migrated to West Papua. The education system was changed from the Dutch system to an Indonesian model. It should be noted that the Dutch used an anthropological model for education which focussed on knowledge within the Papuan context. The Indonesian government introduced a national education system, where teachers acted as pioneers in the improvement of the quality of education in the province.

As shown in Figure 1, the proportion of West Papua population who are were five years of age and over that never attended school or completed primary school was substantial and significant (about 36 per cent); those who completed primary school around 27 per cent; completed junior high school (JHS) and senior high school (SHS) about 16 per cent and 18 per cent respectively; meanwhile only two per cent completed tertiary education. These figures suggested that in 2004, skilled human resources in West Papua remained low due to the small percentage of the total population five years of age over who had completed tertiary education.

Educational problems faced by West Papua

Shortage of Teachers

A teacher shortage particularly at the primary and secondary levels in West Papua meant that not all school-aged children attended school. The Indonesian government recruited teachers from West Papua and other parts of Indonesia with limited success. It was common in remote areas for army and police personnel who were stationed in the area to give technical assistance by teaching in schools.

Teachers are reluctant to teach in remote areas for the following reasons; the first is the lack of facilities and social services such as adequate housing for teachers and limited health care (Puskemas). Teachers often live in houses that belong to local people and it is very hard for teachers if they want to bring their families to the remote area. There are no social services in some highland areas of the province due to a lack of Puskesmas and medical staff. The second is a lack of transportation. It is common for teachers who work in remote areas to use small engine planes where there are only flights to remote area every three months or more. The third is lack of incentives for teachers to work in remote areas. It should be noted cost of living in remote area is expensive compared to that in urban areas. Therefore, without additional incentives for teachers in remote areas, they cannot survive. The last reason is irregular salary payments to teachers in remote areas. They must go to the regency centre to obtain their salary every three to six months, and improper accounting procedures means there is often a salary shortfall (Rumbiak and Mollet, 2002). In addition, surveys from the International Foundation for Election System (IFES) have shown that 35 per cent of 3,450 respondents mentioned a lack of an adequate of number of teachers (IFES, 2003). A significant example of this issue is noted in Bomamani-Pania, where the Catholic primary school has 180 students with three teachers each teaching six classes (UNDP and Government of Indonesia, 1989).

Curriculum

Like other provinces in Indonesia, the West Papua educational system has adopted the National Education System. This means the educational curriculum has been produced by the Ministry of Education in Jakarta and is a national curriculum. This curriculum is a controversial issue for educational experts in West Papua as the standard of curriculum is not designed for rural conditions. This curriculum is an urban standard curriculum designed for areas such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta or Surabaya. As a result, it is not surprising that West Papuan students have great difficulty adjusting to this curriculum. According to UNDP the national curriculum is difficult to apply in West Papua because of the local customs and the low level of basic competence of the students concerned. The students with different ethnic and regional differences receive the same kind of educational curriculum (UNDP and Government of Indonesia, 1989). Up to now, not much has been done to adapt the curriculum and teaching methods to the local context.