Promoting Education in Indonesia

Totok Amin Soefijanto, PhD Candidate, Boston University School of Education

History is the best teacher. In 1913, Ki Hadjar Dewantara suggested the infamous trilogy of Indonesian education: in ngarso sung tutodo, ing madya mangun karso, tut wuri handayani (Javanese: in the front giving example, in the middle building spirit, in the back observing outcomes). Yet, Indonesian educators never learn from, let alone scrutinize his idea. In fact, Indonesia has many opportunities, such as literacy rate, natural resources, and political reformation. To create and provide a world-class education for its citizens. Indonesia must do five things. First, to encourage national and regional leadership to focus on education improvement. Second, to overcome religious radicalism and rampant corruption. Third, to involve parents and community to upgrade teachers' competence. Fourth, to develop an assessment system that could track the students achievement. Fifth, to start thinking outside the box in improving students learning experience.

Totok Amin Soefijanto is a doctoral candidate at Boston University School of Education. He received his bachelors degree from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Bogor, Imdonesia, and his MA degree from Emerson College, Boston. He also acquired a Cerfificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Media & Technology from Boston University. He was a journalist based in Jakarta from 1986 to 1997, working consecutively for Tempo, Editor, and Tiras weekly. Currently, he works as a research assistant at Harvard University's Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, in addition to his jobs as teaching and graduate assistant at Boston University. He has been writing op-eds about education and public policies for Indonesian media, such as Kompas and The Jakarta Post, and interviewed by television networks, such as Indosiar and Metro-TV.

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