Education Minister Reshuffle Slammed
Jakarta. The replacement of education minister Anies Baswedan for Muhadjir Effendy, chairman of Muhammadiyah's education and research department, may be the biggest upset in President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's long awaited second cabinet reshuffled on Wednesday morning (27/07).
Education observer Doni Koesoema said Anies was removed for political reasons, rather than his performance, and he should've been given more time to complete his vision.
“I have seen that this is not about merit, but politics. Mr. Anies started various internal reforms and public programs, initiating anti-bullying programs with the spirit of Pancasila, unity in diversity. It is not about performance,” Doni told Suara Pembaruan on Wednesday.
Doni said he has great expectations for Muhadjir — the current rector Muhammadiyah University in Malang — to continue the work of the ministry under Anies.
The ministry, under Anie's leadership, established a string of reforms including the popular school supervision program which saw the public become involved in creating child-friendly schools through anti-violence and anti-bullying policies.
Doni said the program is a strong foundation to form better schoolyard and education cultures to address diversity. Muhadjir is expected to focus on classroom issues, particularly the much-maligned 2013 curriculum.
“Even though Anies had revised it, in fact, I have seen very little changes [in the practice],” Doni said.
The Indonesian Teachers Union also said the change could cause problems with programs.
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