DPR Asks The Ministry Of Education And Culture To Not Carefully Prepare School Textbooks

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The seventh grade Citizenship Education (PPKn) printed book was withdrawn by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) for revision due to material errors.

The House of Representatives Commission X reminded the Ministry of Education and Culture to be careful and careful in compiling the material for school textbooks.

The material errors from the seventh grade PPKn SMP book are about the concept of God and the Trinity in Christianity. This issue has been widely highlighted on social media, causing a number of parties to protest.

"DPR regrets and reminds the Ministry of Education and Culture to be selective in determining book authors, regardless of the type of book, especially those that will become mandatory guidelines for students," said Member of Commission X DPR RI, Andreas Hugo Pareira, Friday, July 29.

The commission in the DPR in charge of education affairs asked the Ministry of Education and Technology to involve experts from various backgrounds for each preparation of learning materials. This, said Andreas, is to avoid the occurrence of material errors in school textbooks.

"Specifically concerning religion, it is better to involve writers who really have expertise in religion and preferably from the same religion as the religion in which they are written," he said.

"This is to avoid misunderstandings that trigger suspicion among religious adherents," added Andreas.

The legislator from the NTT I electoral district also reminded that the preparation of textbooks must go through a verification process before they are officially distributed. Andreas revealed, textbooks should not be made at random because it could have a fatal impact.

"Writing about religion should also not involve dogma in religion but more about understanding general information about a particular religion," he said.

Even though in the process of revising the Kemendikbud grade 7 PPKn book involving the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI) and the Communion of Indonesian Churches (PGI), Andreas was worried that the content of the previous material had been received by students, thus allowing misinformation to occur.

"The Ministry of Education and Culture should involve experts or experts who are competent in their fields from the start of preparing the textbook," said Andreas.

Problems related to the wrong textbook material do not only occur in the Civics Education book on the concept of the Trinity in Christianity. Andreas reminded that similar problems had happened before, although in different contexts.

"Errors in the PPKn book are an iceberg phenomenon from the poor process of preparing textbooks for subject matter carried out by the Ministry of Education and Culture," he said.

“The preparation of subject matter should be done scientifically and responsibly. It should not be just a project that benefits a group of people materially,” continued Andreas.

For this reason, the Indonesian House of Representatives requested that all textbooks that had been printed by the Ministry of Education and Culture be carefully reviewed and researched. Andreas said, it is not impossible that there are other mistakes in school student textbooks if you look at the problems that occur.

"If the Central Government has delivered incorrect knowledge, it is not impossible that the future young generation of the Indonesian nation will have a misguided understanding of the religions that exist in Indonesia," he explained.

Andreas said that tolerance and mutual respect between followers of different religions can only be cultivated if there is a proper understanding of the religions in Indonesia.

"A misguided thought as a result of a learning error can have fatal consequences for the diversity and unity of Indonesia," concluded Andreas.