Nurturing Students' Talents Fairly
For some time now, it seems that students’ talents have not received serious attention from various stakeholders. There has been no planned, structured, and sustainable management of students’ talents and interests during their education. Those talents and interests that should have been identified earlier are often forgotten, often surfacing only later in life, such as someone who suddenly shows talent for singing or writing songs at an advanced age.
Historically, talent and interest development among students did not become a standardized, structured process starting from schools. There has also been limited involvement from local to central levels in activities that accommodate students’ talents and interests.
Appreciation should be given to the Government through the ministry responsible for basic and secondary education for showing attention and concern for this issue. The ministry has issued a regulation in the form of Ministerial Regulation for Basic and Secondary Education (Permendikdasmen) No. 25 of 2025 on Student Talent Management.
Permendikdasmen defines Student Talent Management as a series of planned, structured, and sustainable efforts to produce students’ talents. The policy’s objectives can be read in Article 2(1) namely to manage the quality of students’ talents; prepare talented students who are competitive; and implement pre-talent and talent development in the national talent management policy.
Implementation Challenges
The process of student talent management is certainly not as easy as expected. One talent identification model theory is the ‘Strengths-Based Approach’. This model focuses on identifying students’ strengths rather than merely correcting weaknesses. This approach encourages teachers to identify students’ natural talents, authentic interests, and abilities showing outstanding potential. The theory directs that students’ strengths be developed through appropriate learning activities such as science competitions, arts, debates, or character development.
If not managed well, there will be failure to grow students’ talents and interests. Failures include the potential of students not being maximized, declining student motivation, and frustration and sense of powerlessness. Unmaximized potential leads capable students to become ordinary because there is no stimulation. Motivation declines when students are not given space to grow. Frustration and powerlessness occur when students feel their achievements are not recognised, causing self-doubt, reluctance to participate, and withdrawal.
Some of these phenomena seem anticipated by Permendikdasmen No. 25 of 2025 by establishing four main principles. The four principles aim to support successful management of student talents: (1) student-centered; (2) inclusive; (3) collaborative; and (4) sustainable.
Student-centered means placing students as the focus in Student Talent Management (MTM), considering the greatest benefits for the development of student talents. Inclusive as the second principle means providing equal opportunities for all students according to their talents and interests, regardless of background, conditions, characteristics, status, and creating a fair and open environment for all students.
The third principle, collaborative, is interpreted that student talent development is undertaken in a tiered, systematic, and integrated manner through cooperation between educational units, districts/cities, provinces, national, international, and the community. The fourth principle, sustainable, implies that MTM is implemented in a structured, consistent, and integrated way.
Follow-Up
Society surely awaits the Government’s action plan through the ministry responsible for basic and secondary education. They will question programs to be implemented for students with particular talents and interests. Parents in particular hope that this policy will provide space and the best opportunities for their children to develop talents and interests. The development of talents and interests should not only occur at school level or locally but also at national, regional, and international levels.
Other questions that may arise include how to identify students’ talents and interests. Identifying talents and interests should be understood as a foundation or starting point for implementing student talent management. So far, not all schools have special programs to identify students’ talents and interests. If they exist, it may only be in schools with certain credibility or private schools with reputations that prioritise students’ talents and interests to achieve excellence in certain fields.
If this regulation is examined, the first implication is that the Government must devise and develop instruments to identify students’ talents and interests. The instrument must have certain standards because it will be filled in by students across Indonesia at the start of the academic year.
Having such an identification instrument will help schools and parents. The results of tracing talents and interests will help schools in determining activities that students can participate in through intrakurikuler, kokurikuler, and/or ekstrakurikuler activities. The availability of such free instruments will be warmly welcomed by parents who may previously have had to budget specific costs for such purposes.