Brilliant Students Not Supported Properly

Throughout 2017, many other Indonesian students won medals in several renowned Science Olympiads, including the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), the International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) and the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo). These achievements were the latest in a long list of Indonesian students that have won international Olympiads since at least the mid-1990s.

One of the stellar achievements was made by Jonathan Pradana Mailoa, who became the overall winner of the IPhO 2006 in Singapore. Jonathan was then a student at SMAK BPK Penabur 1 senior high school in Jakarta.

In other Olympiads, including the mathematics, chemistry and biology Olympiads, Indonesian students have competed well against foreign students for the gold, silver and bronze medals. The Indonesia Biology Olympiad Team (TOBI) website shows that Indonesia has won 10 golds, 25 silvers and 20 bronzes in the International Biology Olympiad from 2000 to 2016. The Indonesian Mathematics Olympiad Team’s (TOMI) data shows that the country has won one gold, 12 silvers and 38 bronzes in the IMO over the years. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Chemistry Olympiad Team has won two golds, 19 silvers and 31 bronzes in the International Chemical Olympiad (IChO) up to 2017.

Unmonitored

Unfortunately, many of the Olympiad winners are neglected by the state. Harun R Sugito, 24, who won gold in the IBO 2010 in Changwon City, South Korea, said that from graduating high school to enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), no government official ever asked him, “What college I go to and what I am working on.”

He was speaking to Kompas by video call on Wednesday (2/5/2018).

Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry director of university student affairs Didin Wahidin said on Sunday (6/5) that the ministry only monitored Olympiad winners who won scholarships prior to 2017. Afterwards, the scholarships for Olympiad winners were distributed by the Culture and Education Ministry. “The Culture and Education Ministry must manage it,” said Didin.

The higher education ministry holds annual gatherings that include a keynote speech on nationalism to monitor Olympiad winners who have received scholarships. From such events, the ministry collected information on the Olympiad winners’ destination universities. However, their research projects are not monitored.

Meanwhile, Olympiad winners that have enrolled in universities abroad, either through scholarships or private funding, are left unmonitored. This is despite their large number and many among them who are majoring in sciences currently being developed in Indonesia, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology.

Culture and Education Ministry international facilitation head Dedi Karyana said the ministry had no specific program for managing university students. “There are thousands of [scholarship recipients] spread across Indonesia. We only monitor them every semester to check that they are maintaining their cumulative GPA in accordance with their scholarship requirements,” he said on Sunday.

Jakarta State University educational sociologist Muchlis Rantoni Luddin said that brilliant Indonesian youths largely went unheeded, as the government did not map national education achievement needs and development strategies for the short-term, mid-term or long-term. Without such a map, it would be difficult to develop and guide human resources management as part of holistic national development efforts.

“The policies to develop human resources are prepared haphazardly. Searches are done only when we need the people. Consequently, the government cannot use youths with potential for development,” said Muchlis.

He said many Indonesian youths won scholastic awards, but were neglected in university, despite their capacity for boosting many aspects of national development.

Ainun Najib, a TOMI 2002 member, said that he was offered a place in the mathematics department at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) upon graduating high school. “However, I was not offered a scholarship, despite coming from a poor family. I was disappointed,” he said.

Ainun ended up enrolling at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) with a full scholarship. In addition to Ainun, more than half of the 30 students who participated in the Mathematics Olympiad 2002 enrolled at NTU. “I was free to choose any major I liked,” said Ainun, who founded the voluntary election watchdog Kawalpemilu.org and pursued a career in Singapore after university.

SMA Sutomo 1 senior high school principal Khoe Tjok Tjin said that state universities offered placement for student winners of the Science Olympiads only if they chose majors in line with the Olympiad they won, even if the students were not interested in pursuing a degree in that major. As a result, many Olympiad winners choose to enroll in overseas universities that offered full scholarships and the freedom to choose a major.

The Culture and Education Ministry’s high school student guidance sub-directorate head, Suharlan, confirmed that the ministry required Olympiad winners that accepted an undergraduate scholarship to enroll in a major related to the Olympiad they won. The reason was so that the students could foster a love for the nation and build a network with other Olympiad winners.

Foreign management

As the government does not properly manage its brilliant students, foreign countries are reaping the benefits of their academic excellence. Singapore is among the countries that are aggressively gathering bright students from many countries.

Singapore offers the freedom of choosing a major, a variety of scholarships and jobs at a number of Singaporean companies upon graduation. The moment a student wins an Olympiad, a Singaporean representative will approach them with a variety of attractive offers.

Dewi Sekarsari, whose son Kinantan Arya Bagaspati is an 11th grader at SMA Taruna Nusantara senior high school and an IMO 2017 bronze medalist, said Singapore had invited Kinantan to enroll at the National University of Singapore (NUS). “[Kinantan] can take classes and participate in the Olympiad preparatory class. They will cover his transportation and accommodation fees and provide him with an allowance,” said Dewi.

(OSA/DNE/EGI/SIE/TIA/TRI/WSI/WER/BSW)