The Polemic of curriculum 2013

aksi Memperingati Hardiknas

There are many reasons why a lot of people are talking about curriculum 2013. They are academics, intellectuals, and the general public who have criticized it. Most of them don’t agree with this curriculum because they judge that the education minister is hastily in making it. This curriculum is also cause of many problems, including cost of education, the addition of school hours, and teacher’s quality.

Firstly is about cost of education. If we are read newspaper or other media to know about the development of this polemic, I think the education minister is waste because the cost of curriculum is larger than the previous curriculum. In KTSP ( Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan ), the cost is Rp.684,4 billion and
Rp.2,49 trillion for curriculum 2013. If the education minister does transparency of cost, this debate may not happen. Unfortunately they do not do it.

Secondly is about the addition of school hours. The addition of study hours is actually quite problematic because it will burden the students. They have to do their homework which must be completed at home. So the time to learn in school with a long time can reduce their leisure time to play and rest. According to Jean Piaget in his Cognitive Theory “ Children construct an understanding of the world around them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment” (www.simplypsychology.org). Based on this explanation, we can conclude that children need to play as a form of self-exploration of the environment.

Finally is about teacher’s quality. Education Minister has not made a progressive action to improve the quality of teachers, so that they can apply the demands of the curriculum in 2013 because it will not be useful when the teacher does not have the qualities that qualified in implementing it. In terms of teaching, most teachers do not nimble and creative in both the acquisition of knowledge and learning methods. . We are not surprised when the teachers tend to be conservative and old-fashioned in teaching.

Therefore, the changes of curriculum will not be successful when the teacher as the subject is not skilled in teaching, so it is difficult to develop the cognitive aspect of students although the cost is very expensive

Susi Sulistiawati Wicaksono

Mahasiswa Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, UNJ