CATEGORY

Indonesian is one of not so many nations whose constitution obliges teh government to run one national educational system. As a consequences of the fourth amendment of its constitution, the state is obliged to assign at least 20 per cent of the national budget to education. Local goverment budgets are also required to support the needs of the education system. It is the writer's understanding that the reason the Indonesian Founding Fathers stressed the importance of education was to support the goal of building Indonesia as a nation that would be modern, democratic, prosperous, and socially just based on the state philosophy, the Pancasila. -Soedijarto-

The views and perspectives at the district level about aducation autonomy, where key stakeholders who hold authority and can make substansial changes to School-Based Management still have not utilised their power and influence. Knowledge and skills needed to facilitate school autonomy are not comprehensively understood; rather, practices of power and self-interest are dominant. Consequently, the future of School-Based Management looks bleak. Improving the capacity of district education officials in general will lead to much more effective ways to support education councils and schools. In fact, devolved power in education given to the district can be customised according to local needs and fit with education decentralisation framework that supports governance. -Bambang Sumintono-

Indonesia, during the ten years of reform and the transition to democracy, has continued to face the enomous challenge of managing diversity within its borders. This diversity not only encompasses the great heterogeneity of communal identities ethnicity, religion, locality, region, class and internal migrant status but also in terms of geography, the uneven proovision of infrastructure and public services, access to natural resouces revenues, and of course levels of education, income and health standards. Managing such diversity is a development challenge and has been at the forefront of the state-building initiatives since the dawn of Indonesian independence in 1945