Central Java Provincial Government Initiates Cooperative Curriculum for Primary to High Schools

“This may even be the first in Indonesia, and hopefully the results will be good,” said Central Java Provincial Secretary Sumarno in a written statement on Tuesday (5/5/2026). The curriculum is expected to provide an understanding of the cooperative system and its essence. “Cooperatives are very different from general business concepts. Cooperatives combine business concepts with social values. There is togetherness, mutual cooperation, and the highest sovereignty lies in the hands of the members. This is what we must re-emphasise to our society,” Sumarno stressed. Sumarno stated that this initiative is also a strategic step to support the Indonesian President’s programme on Village/Urban Ward White and Red Cooperatives (KDKMP). Therefore, the government needs to internalise the concept of people’s economy from the school period. “We want to internalise this understanding from an early age, starting from primary school, junior high, to high school levels. The hope is that future cooperatives will be managed by human resources (HR) who truly understand the spirit of cooperatives, so that collective progress and mutual cooperation are truly built,” said Sumarno. Central Java’s bold move is planned to be directly presented to the Minister of Cooperatives. Sumarno hopes that the compiled curriculum will not only serve as a prototype in Central Java but can also be adopted as a national standard. Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Central Java Provincial Cooperative and SME Agency, Dwi Silo Raharjo, explained that this curriculum will target all schools under the Education Agency as well as madrasahs under the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) in Central Java. Dwi acknowledged that so far, economic education in schools has tended to be general and lacks specific depth on cooperative aspects. However, cooperative education was once an important part of Indonesia’s education system in the 1980s era. “We want to revive that cooperative education is very important. The purpose of this FGD is to perfect the curriculum draft so that it aligns with national and regional education policies, and to produce an applicable module,” Dwi explained. The target is ambitious. This curriculum is projected to begin implementation in the new academic year ahead. “We are welcoming the new academic year. Hopefully, it can be executed soon. This FGD lasted for three days and was attended by 40 competent experts in the curriculum field,” said Dwi. The activity participants consisted of various elements, including 12 people from the Central Java Kemenag Regional Office (MI, MTs, and MA teams), 5 people from the Central Java Education Agency (high school, vocational school, and special needs school teams), and 8 people from the Semarang City Education Agency (primary and junior high school teams). In addition, expert teams from the Central Java Cooperative and SME Agency as well as practitioners from the cooperative movement were involved to provide input so that the resulting curriculum is truly valid and suits field needs. With this curriculum, Central Java is optimistic that a young generation will emerge that is not only financially intelligent but also possesses social spirit and mutual cooperation enthusiasm in building the nation’s economy through cooperatives.”