Lestari Emphasises That Education Must Not Merely Produce "Work Machines"
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR RI) Lestari Moerdijat emphasised that education in Indonesia must not merely produce “work machines” that possess only technical abilities.
“We all do not want education in Indonesia—our education—to only produce machines, workers who solely have technical skills, but lack critical thinking abilities and humanistic capacities,” she said during the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum held virtually in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Lestari assessed that education does not have to be perpetually linked to market logic.
She recalled the ideas of the Father of Indonesian Education, Ki Hajar Dewantara, who stated that education is the process of guiding all the strengths and potentials of children so that they achieve the highest possible salvation, happiness, and welfare.
“Therefore, in our view, we must establish education in the proper context and framework. Not just using one logic that education prepares children and the younger generation to be ready to work in the market later,” she affirmed.
According to her, Indonesian education is currently at a critical crossroads, where the changing times demand a re-deepening and force humans to start changing their ways of thinking.
“Teaching children is not just about being able to memorise, which we must admit is our weakness. Children can only memorise or are limited to memorising, but get trapped in limitations or inability when they have to apply what they have learned to daily life, especially when they finish their education and truly enter the real world,” she stated.
Lestari underlined that the development of the times demands the transformation of schools from academic spaces towards the ability to possess knowledge, skills, as well as noble morals and character.
“Our hope is that our education can produce cultured human beings, besides of course meeting the qualifications that are already required, and humans who uphold our national values and philosophy,” said Lestari Moerdijat.