Opening Access to Education for Children in Eastern Indonesia

In President Prabowo Subianto’s grand agenda to realise a Golden Indonesia 2045, improving the quality of education and literacy is a crucial step. However, as an archipelagic nation with thousands of islands and diverse conditions, equitable access to education remains a distinct challenge. Access to education in Eastern Indonesia, for instance, still lags behind and is uneven compared to other regions. This condition is influenced by various factors, ranging from extreme geographical challenges and limited basic facilities such as electricity and internet access, to a shortage of teaching staff. Furthermore, the uneven distribution of educational facilities and limited transport access make it difficult for many children in remote areas to obtain proper education services.

Responding to these challenges, a native Papuan, Bhrisco Jordy Dudi Padatu, initiated the Papua Future Project (PFP), a project-based community in the education sector founded in July 2021. The community specifically focuses on addressing literacy issues in underdeveloped areas of West Papua, particularly on Mansinam Island. As it developed, Mansinam Island became part of the Astra Prosperous Village programme, which focuses on community empowerment and strengthening local wisdom-based economic potential. The various initiatives run are also aligned with Astra’s four corporate social responsibility (CSR) pillars: education through literacy programmes and learning assistance, health through community education, the environment through raising awareness of climate change impacts and waste utilisation, and entrepreneurship through empowering indigenous communities to develop craft products based on local potential.

With the motto ‘Every Child Matters’, the project focuses on providing inclusive access to education as a long-term target through free literacy tutoring programmes and book donations for indigenous Papuan children living in areas with high illiteracy rates. The literacy tutoring programme implements a curriculum with an adaptive learning method that focuses on human-centred design. This method is designed by adapting to the motivations, habits, daily lives, and learning barriers of indigenous Papuan children, thereby creating a more precise and effective learning approach. In its implementation, the programme also utilises online learning concepts through visual and audio technology to increase students’ interest in learning. Due to limited internet access, Bhrisco designed the learning process using an asynchronous learning method, which involves indirect online learning through videos uploaded to YouTube or Google Drive.

Through a combination of adaptive and asynchronous learning, children become more enthusiastic about learning to read, recognising letters and numbers, and are able to utilise technology as a learning tool to adapt more easily to the times. In running this project, Bhrisco has collaborated with relevant stakeholders, including community groups, village heads, school principals, and local educators. Besides boosting the literacy rate of indigenous Papuan children, the project also focuses on raising the issue of climate change impacts on the livelihoods of indigenous communities through non-academic tutoring programmes, while empowering indigenous communities to create and sell craft products made from natural materials and waste.

Bhrisco also developed the learning process by integrating technological innovation using the asynchronous learning method as an effort to provide children with access to technology-based learning and to serve as a platform for all young Indonesians to contribute to education in Papua remotely. Through these efforts, Bhrisco won a national-level award at the 2022 Semangat Astra Terpadu Untuk Indonesia (SATU Indonesia Awards) in the education category. Through the SATU Indonesia Awards, Astra continues to give appreciation to fellow Indonesians who bring benefits to their surrounding environment. Members of the public with impactful works or innovations can also participate in the SATU Indonesia Awards.