SYSTEM OVERHAUL: The head of the team charged with evaluating the Institute of Public Administration, Ryaas Rasyid (left), talks with his deputy Arief Rachman before a closed-door meeting at the State Palace on Thursday. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the team to draft an action plan to reform the educational system at the institute.
Mass calls for swift reform at the violence-plagued Institute of Public Administration (IPDN) have proved insufficient, with the government failing to agree on a blueprint for establishing a fresh and more humane education system at the institution.
A Cabinet meeting chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday failed to decide on any of the three options for reforming the college proposed by a government-sanctioned team.
Presidential spokesman Andi Alfian Mallarangeng said the government is instead working to draw up an action plan to reform the whole system of education for public administration.
"We just don't look at the IPDN case and how to disband the institute. But it will be more comprehensive on providing an education for leadership," Andi told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
As for the IPDN, Andi said it would be retained with some alterations. "Some parts of the system will be changed, curriculum will be evaluated soon, management of lecturers will be revamped. Some of the system will be abolished."
Following the death of sophomore Cliff Muntu on April 2, Yudhoyono created a team to advise him on creating a new educational system for the IPDN.
After a two-week fact-finding mission, the team chaired by regional autonomy expert Ryaas Rasyid provided three avenues for Yudhoyono, but ruled out closure of the institute.
The first option was to launch a major overhaul of student enrollments, in which students would no longer be recruited as candidates for civil service.
The second option would have the government create five public administration colleges in five provinces to supply local governments with low-level civil servants.
The third option involved the transformation of the IPDN into a university-level college at which students would receive an undergraduate degree upon completion of their studies.
Ryaas said after the Cabinet meeting that although Yudhoyono had rejected the options offered by his team, he had asked the team to formulate a plan for reforming IPDN.
"We are tasked with creating a concrete action plan on how to realize the policy ... As for the options, he asked for a combination of the three options with some modifications," he said.
Ryaas said Yudhoyono was highly concerned during the meeting with the finer aspects of initiating reform at the institute.
"He was concerned with how to end the existing system at the IPDN and how to set up a new system as a continuation from the old one," he said.
He also said that a reformed IPDN would be made consistent with the current education system law.
The National Education Ministry has repeatedly insisted that the IPDN's existence is in violation of the law.
Ryaas confirmed reform at the institute would take some time. "He (Yudhoyono) wants the new system to be completed before 2009," he said.
Source : www.thejakartapost.com
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