Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang The front yard at SMK 4 state vocational school in East Java's city of Malang was quite crowded -- but not with students.
Instead, some 1,200 teachers from across Malang were gathered to attend information and communications technology training (ICT).
School vice principal Sri Oentari said participants gathered in the school's large hall before they were divided according to their respective skills into four large groups including principals, IT tutors, administrative staffers and librarians.
These groups were further divided again into 20 groups, each comprising of 60 persons. Each group attended internet training for three days, led by a trainer from SMK 4.
"This training will later be related closely with the network education program we are establishing," Sri told The Jakarta Post in mid December.
Head of Malang's education office M Shofwan said teachers taking part in the training had come from some 300 different schools across Malang, including private and state elementary schools, as well as junior and senior high schools.
"They are trained on ICT for four months, until March, 2008," Shofwan said.
Internet training for teachers in Malang today was very important, said Shofwan, because some 500 schools, or 80 percent of schools in the city, had already been connected to the internet.
"We estimate that by the end of 2008 all schools will be linked," said Shofwan.
"This is a breakthrough and it will enhance the narrow outlook of educators and students thus far."
Internet connection for all schools, Shofwan said, allowed greater and faster access to education materials from the country's ministry of education.
Shofwan said it would also see schools less dependent on paper and see students less likely to spend their pocket money at internet cafes or kiosks where he said they had access to pornographic sites.
He said the roll-out of internet access and e-learning programs for the city's schools would soon encourage students to use computers to complete and submit their homework online.
Students and tutors would also have access online to National Examination model questions posted by the National Education Ministry through its official website.
"The network program is designed to be able to overcome the scarcity of teachers," Shofwan said.
"For example, other schools can access English lessons taught by a a good English teacher via teleconference," he said.
At the moment however Shofwan said each school was obliged to procure their own computers, and pay for their own internet access.
Malang's administration said it was working together with PT Telkom state telecommunications company to provide telephone and internet links.
PT Telkom's East Java communications manager Djadi Soegiarto said, "This is in line with the agreement between Telkom and the education office in 2006".
"Telkom has been assigned to provide infrastructure for the National Education Network and to provide information access in schools as well as training programs," Djadi said.
"At a bandwidth of 200 megabytes per second, internet access in Jakarta can be used to support long-distance learning programs as well as online data procurement to students and teachers."
Shofwan said obstacles the education system was facing included teachers' and students' inability to want or accept change.
"I often hear people say they can still live and carry out activities without the internet," Shofwan said.
But he said they would need to fight for change.
"Now is different from before."
Schools in Malang have established links, especially with education institutions in Singapore, Belgium, the United States, Germany, Malaysia and the Netherlands, thanks to internet access.
"Representatives from contacts made in Belgium come to Malang every three to four months to offer assistance and provide supporting equipment, such as computers," Shofwan said.
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