Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Thousands of teachers, students and community activists marked National Education Day on Friday with rallies and protests across the country.
Their demands ranged from the annulment of the national exam and granting of civil servant status to contract-based teachers, to provision of free education for all.
In Jakarta, thousands of contract-based teachers rallied outside the State Palace and House of Representatives, demanding that government raise them to civil servant status.
Teachers received support from hundreds of students from Jakarta State University, gathered in front of the Education Ministry on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, urging government to improve teaching quality and teacher's welfare.
Students also demanded that government review the national exam and fulfill the Constitutional mandate to allocate 20 percent of the state budget to education.
In the West Nusa Tenggara capital of Mataram, college students burned a bottomless coffin, which they said was a symbol of the death of national education.
Besides demanding rejection of the national exam, students, who rallied in front of West Nusa Tenggara's education office, demanded that government provide free education from elementary to high school, as well as affordable higher education.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, hundreds of students and dozens of blue-collar workers rallied outside the office of South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo urging him to speedily bring in the free education he promised before coming to office.
Students also rejected the proposed bill on new legal status for universities, arguing it was a form of educational privatization, and against the interests of the poor.
Antara reported protests also took place in capitals of North Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, West Sulawesi and Gorontalo provinces.
Despite the widespread protests, the government seems to be quite satisfied with its educational achievements.
"We have to recognize that Indonesia has achieved significant progress in educational development, although there is still much to be done given the increasing challenges of globalization," Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo said in a National Education Day commemoration in Jakarta.
The minister mentioned in his speech various government achievements in the education sector including the certifying of more than 147,000 teachers while 81,000 others got their bachelor's or four-year associate degree. He also highlighted extension of e-learning networks to include up to 10,000 schools and nearly 300 universities.
He also noted improvements in school infrastructure and facilities; the government's new policy on low cost textbooks and better school participation rates and literacy rates.
Although National Education Day celebrations fall every May 2, a concluding celebratory event will take place at Airlangga University in Surabaya on May 12, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to bring the commemorations to a close.
[Panca Nugraha and Andi Hajramurni contributed to the report from Mataram and Makassar, respectively.]