Indonesia, India, and China face significant challenges in their education systems despite high enrollment rates and technological advancements. In Indonesia, classrooms teem with students, but the education quality is faltering. Despite nearly 100% enrollment up to age 12 and a favorable pupil-teacher ratio of 15:1 in secondary schools, the country's education system struggles to meet competency standards. In India, the edtech industry suffers setbacks with over 2,000 companies shutting down in the past five years. Meanwhile, China's rural schools grapple with overcrowding, despite technological integrations like artificial intelligence in grading.
The learning crisis in Indonesia became evident when over 1.6 million teachers failed to meet minimum competency standards in a nationwide test conducted in 2015. Education Minister Nadiem Makarim acknowledged this crisis publicly in 2022. In an effort to address these issues, the government piloted the Merdeka Belajar reform in 2021, which officially became the national curriculum in 2022. This curriculum emphasizes students’ learning processes and day-to-day learning rather than just academic results.
"The World Bank refers to us as functionally illiterate," stated Indra Charismiadji.
Despite compulsory education spanning 12 years, Indonesia struggles with functional illiteracy. Indra Charismiadji pointed out that students fail to comprehend what they read, reflecting a deeper issue within the system.
"Our young generation can’t learn anything because … they don’t understand what they’re reading," Charismiadji added.
In contrast, China's use of AI in education reflects its ambition to build an AI industry worth 1 trillion yuan (US$137 billion) by 2030. In 2018, a quarter of Chinese schools had started using AI to grade essays. Despite its benefits, Kong Lingdong warned about AI's limitations in addressing students' emotional and communicative needs.
"They may not be able to do well when dealing with issues that involve communication and emotional aspects of students," warned Kong Lingdong.
China's policy of nine years' compulsory education integrates AI as a supportive tool rather than a replacement for traditional teaching methods.
"AI is an auxiliary tool. … I won’t replace real teaching methods with it," stated Kong Lingdong.
India faces a different set of challenges, particularly highlighted by a study in 2010 that found extreme inequality in mathematics test scores across states like Orissa and Rajasthan. However, efforts at Disha's school have shown promise, reducing the learning gap between grade one to grade eight pupils to 1.24 years by the end of 2023.
"(My) work is only guiding them, so no mass answers," said Disha C, emphasizing individualized learning approaches.
Disha C also noted that her students are grouped by skill level rather than age, allowing for more tailored educational experiences.
"(My) students are not necessarily sorted by age but by their level of skill in a subject," Disha C explained.
Despite technological advances and curriculum reforms, systemic issues persist. Teachers in Indonesia earn between 2.9 million rupiah to 5.5 million rupiah (US$180 to US$340) per month, which may impact their motivation and effectiveness. Muhammad Sayuti highlighted the need for more controlled teacher training programs instead of repeatedly altering curricula.
"Actually, we didn’t need too many teacher training programmes. In many countries, the number of teacher training students is (strictly controlled)," noted Muhammad Sayuti.
Indra Charismiadji criticized the government's approach to education reforms, urging for more consistent strategies rather than frequent curriculum changes.
"The sad thing is, the government … keeps doing the same thing. (With) every new minister of education appointed, they just change the curriculum, printing more books," expressed Indra Charismiadji.
China's rural schools face challenges related to student dropout rates. Wan Yi noted that previous government reports attributed dropouts to students' lack of interest in learning rather than systemic issues.
"Seven years ago, when I looked at the documents issued by the central government, they said, ‘We did find some dropouts, but it’s because of their individual reasons. They’re not fond of learning,’" Wan Yi recounted.
Wan Yi also pointed out that while AI aids learning, it requires continuous upskilling from students and can sometimes lack perceptiveness.
"The aids aren’t perceptive at times. Students also need to constantly upskill when using AI," Wan Yi commented.
Wen Xin suggested integrating AI with existing technologies to empower educational processes without replacing traditional methods entirely.
"(AI) can be combined with any existing technology as a kind of empowerment — things like the steam engine or even electrical appliances," Wen Xin suggested.
Leave a Reply