goodmorningpapua.com – Education in the province of West Papua is still a serious concern of the local government, especially regarding the large number of school-age children who are not in school and also the number of teachers.
The problem of education in West Papua Province is not about school building infrastructure but the constitutional right of children to get a perfect education as stipulated in the Constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
Data held by academician from the University of Papua Agus Sumule shows that there are 68,988 school-age children in the province of West Papua who are not in school. Of that number, there are 24,725 elementary or elementary school age children who are not in school, 25,326 people are at the junior high school or junior high school level.
Furthermore, there are 18,938 school-aged children who should currently be studying at the high school and vocational school levels but do not attend school. They are spread over 13 districts and cities in the province of West Papua.
This is certainly a serious concern for the government in the West Papua Province with various education sector development schemes so that children’s rights to go to school are fulfilled.
Because the success of the development of an area is determined by the quality of human resources. The higher the education level of the community, the higher the quality of human resources in the area.
On the other hand, when many children are not in school, qualified teachers are limited in number, and many adults have low education, it is very difficult for an area to achieve the expected prosperity.
Here, Article 31 of the 1945 Constitution states that every Indonesian citizen has the right to education. Specifically in Papua, Law Number 2 of 2021 concerning Changes in Special Autonomy mandates that every resident of the Papua Province and West Papua Province has the right to obtain quality education up to high school level, with the lowest possible burden on society.
Cause of not going to school
Many factors cause school-age children in the province not to attend school. However, the factors of people’s lives are more dominant, where people still think that education is not important.
Customary issues also affect, for example, parents disagree with customs, eventually one of them moves to another place with a child, resulting in the child’s education being neglected.
In addition, early marriages, incomplete or divorced families and children dealing with legal problems, make it embarrassing to return to school.
The various factors causing children not to go to school in West Papua require the support of all components of the nation, not only the education office.
Efforts made by the education office are to build communication with all components of society, especially village officials, to increase public awareness that education is very important.
In addition, communicating and collaborating with religious institutions in the regions to assist the government in increasing public awareness about the importance of education.
Currently, the shortage of teachers is still a problem in education in West Papua Province, especially elementary school teachers, which are less than 2,313 people.
In order to answer the problem of the shortage of elementary school teachers, the Directorate General of Teachers and Education Personnel of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology is looking for a solution by making a list of all universities in West Papua Province that have elementary school teacher education study programs at the undergraduate and undergraduate levels. early childhood education to conduct program interventions.
In addition, the ministry will also appoint universities in West Papua Province that do not have primary school teacher education majors and S1 early childhood education, however, there are teaching and education faculties, such as the University of Papua, to open elementary teacher education programs.
The Ministry also authorizes religious high schools that run religious teacher undergraduate education programs in West Papua Province to open undergraduate education programs for elementary school teachers and undergraduate early childhood education programs.
In this way, it is hoped that it will be able to answer the problem of the shortage of regional elementary school teachers in West Papua Province.
It is said that the next challenge for local governments based on Government Regulation No. 106 within a period of seven years is to be able to produce 33 thousand teachers throughout the Land of Papua.
Therefore, all district and city governments in West Papua Province have started collaboration in building teacher education institutions to be able to answer the needs of teachers for the advancement of education in Papua.
Therefore, it is necessary to build a teacher education institution in the Ransiki area, South Manokwari Regency, because land and buildings have been provided by the local government.
It’s just a matter of collaborating with neighboring local governments to jointly support the construction of additional buildings so that children in South Manokwari Regency, Arfak Mountains Regency, Bintuni Regency, and even Teluk Wondama Regency, can study at these educational institutions to answer the needs of the teachers there. .
In addition, there should also be a teacher education institution built in the South Sorong Regency area so that children in South Sorong Regency, Maybrat Regency, Tambrauw Regency and other Sorong regions, can study at these educational institutions to answer the needs of teachers in that area.
Author: Ernes Broning Kakisina