Project News

Panel discussion session on Education Harmonization Forum.
Left to right : Mr. Timbul (Head of Primary and Secondary Division, Education Office of Kab. Sumedang), Ms. Ani Prihati (Principal of SMPN 1 Sewon), Mr. Sumar Hendayana (Lesson Study Coordinator, UPI), Mr. Muchlis (Teacher of Physics, SMPN 2 Grati).

On October 29th, 2009, the first harmonization forum on educational development was held in Jakarta for the purpose of harmonizing Lesson Study and other interventions on educational development with Indonesian national strategies, coordinating with other donors in educational development and sharing achievements and challenges in the lesson study target sites. The main objectives of this first forum were; to share the outcomes of Lesson Study as one of the effective interventions for educational quality improvement, and to discuss how to disseminate Lesson Study and how to harmonize various activities on Lesson Study. There were 44 participants from Directorate General for Quality Improvement of Teachers and Educational Personnel of the Ministry of National Education (MONE), Directorate General of Management of Primary and Secondary Education of MONE, Directorate General of Islamic Education of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, JICA Indonesia Office, other donors such as WB, AusAID, USAID and UNESCO, resource universities of PELITA, LPMP (Institute for Quality Assurance for Teachers), Dinas P&K, principals and teachers from PELITA’s target areas, and media.

At the beginning of the forum, Dr. Surya Dharma, the Director of Directorate General for Quality Improvement of Teachers and Educational Personnel of MONE, expressed the strong commitment that the Directorate General will disseminate Lesson Study nation-wide. This statement was to declare that Lesson Study which had been introduced in Indonesia by JICA’s cooperation was incorporated in Indonesian national educational development strategy. This forum also became a good platform for the above mentioned three Directorate Generals of two Ministries responsible for educational quality improvement to meet and discuss all together on the strategies of quality improvement, as it is generally very difficult for them to coordinate and collaborate due to sectionalism in Indonesian ministries. During the forum, there was a presentation on outcomes and challenges in Lesson Study activities by JICA Experts, officials from Dinas P&K and principals from PELITA target areas, a presentation on roles of resource universities, a presentation on strategies on quality improvement by each related Directorate General, and information sharing with BERMUTU, a World Bank funded education project.

This forum provided a precious opportunity for Indonesian policy-makers in charge of quality improvement of basic education, donors, and other stakeholders in educational development to get together, present and harmonize strategies and activities on educational quality improvement. It is recognized that holding this kind of forum continuously to discuss educational quality issues further is important.