Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Partners with Tanoto Foundation, UNICEF, and Global Gate Foundation to Enhance Indonesian Children's Literacy and Numeracy
The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), together with Tanoto Foundation, UNICEF Indonesia, and Global Gate Foundation, has launched the Universal Participation for Quality Education programme to enhance literacy and numeracy at the primary education level.
Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Abdul Mu’ti, explained that the programme involves six local governments, including the cities of Medan and Pematangsiantar, and the regencies of Batang Hari, Tegal, Ende, and Sikka.
“This programme represents ongoing collaboration that, God willing, we will implement until 2029. It is also a collective effort to address the challenges we still face, which have not fully recovered, regarding learning loss, learning poverty, various PISA scores, and other academic achievements that are not yet as expected,” he stated at the Kemendikdasmen office in Jakarta on Thursday (9/4).
Furthermore, he noted that these issues should not hinder Indonesia’s progress but rather serve as momentum to do better and provide the best for Indonesian children, particularly at the primary education level, and more specifically at the elementary school (SD) level.
“Thus, we hope that through this collaboration, we can improve the literacy and numeracy abilities of primary school children in these six regencies and cities as a pilot,” Abdul Mu’ti emphasised.
Abdul Mu’ti stressed that approximately 500 schools will become partners in this programme, and Kemendikdasmen will not only conduct teacher training but also implement the programme and adjust learning to align with deep learning policies or in-depth learning.
“So that the learning approach, textbooks, and various aspects related to improving literacy and numeracy can run successfully,” he explained.
At the same location, Head of Learning Environment at Tanoto Foundation, Margaretha Ari Widowati, explained that this collaboration aims to realise a deep learning approach in educational units.
“So in this collaboration, which will be supported by the six regencies that will jointly implement the deep learning approach if realised in teaching and learning activities. Hopefully, this can truly support what has been planned by the government; many innovations are needed, and this is one way,” she said.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Indonesia Country Representative, Maniza Zaman, stated that in this collaborative programme, her organisation will bring global knowledge combined with the placement context in Indonesia.
“We have been working here for 75 years, and we think it is important to support government priorities, always supporting national priorities and how to connect them with local governments. We are really looking forward to working with all local governments because ultimately an educational ecosystem will be created in the regions and how we can strengthen it. That will impact the improvement of children’s abilities, especially in numeracy and literacy,” she concluded.