Minister Pigai proposes standalone human rights curriculum

Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai has proposed that human rights education have its own curriculum and textbooks at school level to strengthen human rights awareness from an early age.

Pigai said the proposal has been submitted to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology so that human rights is not merely part of other subject material.

“I have proposed that there must be a separate human rights curriculum, with its own books,” Pigai said during a visit to Sumedang, West Java, on Friday.

According to him, human rights education needs to be provided specifically to students because human rights values relate to human life from birth until death.

Pigai said human rights education books could be developed gradually according to education level, from primary school, junior secondary school to senior secondary school, so that the material can be adapted to the age of learners.

For higher education, he proposed that human rights education be tailored to the subject or concentration chosen by students so that understanding of human rights can be linked to their respective fields of study.

He considers that human rights education is not sufficient if it is only a part or chapter in a particular subject because awareness of human rights needs to be built continuously from an early age.

“Hopefully this can trigger human rights education to become more massive,” he said.

Pigai hopes the proposal can encourage increased human rights awareness as well as strengthen human rights development through the involvement of ministries, institutions and the education sector.