Deputy Interior Minister Wiyagus Emphasises Three Strategic Foundations for Quality Education at the 2026 Hardiknas Commemoration
Changes in mindset, mentality, and mission orientation form the primary foundation for successfully implementing national education policies. These three aspects are essential prerequisites to prevent government priority programmes from being limited to mere administrative formalities and instead delivering tangible impacts.
“Without them, all policies will merely end as programmes and formalities marked only by quantitative achievements,” stated Deputy Interior Minister (Wamendagri) Akhmad Wiyagus while delivering the message from the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education (Mendikdasmen) as the Inspecting Officer at the 2026 National Education Day (Hardiknas) commemoration held at the Plaza of Building A, Central Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Jakarta, on Monday, 4 May 2026.
In the message, he explained that over the past 18 months, the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) has developed a strategic foundation titled “quality education for all” through five main policies.
These policies include the revitalisation and digitalisation of more than 288,000 educational units; improvements in qualifications and welfare for 150,000 scholarship-receiving teachers in 2026; strengthening character through the Seven Habits of Great Indonesian Children programme and the ASRI school environment (Safe, Healthy, Clean, Beautiful); quality measurement via Academic Ability Tests and the literacy-numeracy movement; and expanding access to inclusive services for children with special needs.
Furthermore, he emphasised that the implementation of the Deep Learning approach as a priority programme can only be realised if the entire education ecosystem moves synergistically. This ecosystem encompasses schools, families, communities, and media, which are expected to collaborate in the same spirit.
In line with this, Wiyagus also invited all stakeholders to revive the spirit of national education as pioneered by Ki Hajar Dewantara. He stressed that education is fundamentally a process of humanising humans, carried out with sincerity and full of compassion.
In the concluding part of the message, Wiyagus affirmed that Kemendikdasmen cannot work alone and requires support from various parties, from the community, business world, domestic and international partners, to local governments. In this context, the role of Kemendagri is crucial in synergising relations between the central and regional governments.