Zoning System: Harmful or Profitable?
Since 2016, the Indonesian government has begun to develop in the field of education by starting to implement a zoning system policy. Through this zoning system, it is expected to accelerate equity in the field of education and eliminate disparities in the quality of education in schools. During this time, there are many disparities between favorite schools that are known to excel with schools that are not favorite. If you say that your favorite school is definitely in your mind, your students have high learning abilities, your economic status is good and your school is good. Conversely, if you say that your favorite schools are not certain you have low learning abilities, your economic status is not capable, and your school is not good. There are also many phenomena about students who move from one place to another to go to school.
If we see that there is indeed an injustice and disparity in that matter, it results in a less favorable public perception of the world of education in Indonesia. Therefore, the government has tried to overcome this by applying the zoning system to various regions in Indonesia. However, is this system the right thing to do? In fact after being applied to various regions of Indonesia, there were many actions from the people who refused this zoning system such as a demonstration conducted by the parents of students to reject the zonation system which was considered unsettling in Grahadi, Surabaya.
It is true that many students who flock to want to go to a favorite school because they hope to maximize their abilities at the school that does offer better facilities compared to schools that are not favorite. However, the existence of this zoning system policy actually reduces expectations for students who are indeed serious and have big dreams. Many participants were unable to reach their dreams to enroll in their dream school because the location of their house was quite far from the school.
Students who have struggled to use their energy and mind and divide their time to attend tutoring and even tutoring in the best places, must break all their businesses just because the location of his house is indeed far from the school area. In fact, they even gave up hope and regretted doing everything they could but in the end the school registration did not use the national exam results as an absolute requirement. This results in children who do have high abilities have to go to private schools because they are defeated by children whose abilities may be lower but the location of their homes is close to schools. This is the question, What is the fate of residential areas far from the school environment ?.
The government must think about the implementation of this zoning system policy in various regions of Indonesia where the education system has not been evenly distributed. There are many gaps in education in terms of facilities and infrastructure as well as the different quality of teachers in various schools. There is a lot that the government should do before implementing this zoning system. The government must do a mapping related to the number of graduates and the number of seats available so that efforts can be made to add more seats and even classrooms to accommodate more students. Furthermore, the government also needs to improve the quality of teachers and the commitment of teachers to be ready to face this system in every school. If the teacher who initially teaches in a favorite school in which students have high ability will be easy when teaching because students are very easy to grasp and understand related material provided otherwise if the school implements this zoning system then the teacher will be more difficult in teaching students with various backgrounds behind different abilities there may even have low ability so teachers must get used to it and prepare appropriate learning motives.
The Ministry of Education and Culture can also form a zoning task force to assist local governments in implementing the zoning system of education in schools, handle the process of registering new odor learners, and hold teacher training activities in the regions to improve teaching and education quality. Regarding the implementation of this zoning system, it is also possible for the government to cooperate with the private sector. With the consequence there is no more discrimination against private school teachers because the quality improvement has been done equally with both public and private school teachers.
This zoning system policy does have positive and negative adverse impacts, depending on which side we look at it because its implementation is not right. Therefore, more preparation is needed for this zoning system policy. The government must first try to make equal distribution related to facilities and infrastructure as well as the quality of teachers in each school. If all of them are the same in every region, there will be no more favorite schools and the zoning system can be implemented smoothly without causing further controversy. With the enactment of this zoning system, it is hoped that the government's goal to achieve equal distribution in the field of education can be achieved and education in Indonesia can experience rapid progress. Arum Nur Aisyah.