It’s PISA time again, when the competence of Indonesian 15 year-olds in science, maths and reading is compared with that of kids in other countries. They continue to under-perform quite shockingly — over four in ten are functionally incompetent in all three areas. Other ASEAN neighbours, who can soon vie for jobs in the ASEAN Economic Community, are much better equipped.
Every three years, Indonesia’s education system goes through the ritual humiliation of the PISA tests, comparing the performance of 15 year-olds in 65 countries in reading, maths and science. Indonesia has more teachers per student than most much richer countries, and an amendment to the constitution guarantees that 20 percent of the national budget is spent on education. And yet the 2012 PISA results, released this week, show that Indonesia ranked at the bottom of the heap in maths and science, and did only marginally better in reading….
