Prabowo Adopts International Curriculum in Schools
President Prabowo Subianto has confirmed the government will channel significant investment into the education sector as a long-term strategy to strengthen research, innovation, and Indonesia’s competitiveness. The move follows a government review of various indicators showing that the quality of national education still needs improvement.
“But this is a long-term investment, we correct ourselves as a nation. Our investment in research and development is very small, far from what it should be. This is our correction. Going forward, we will try to improve that,” Prabowo said during a briefing to 150 researchers from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) at the Presidential Palace on Thursday (6/8).
Prabowo stressed that improving the quality of education is the main foundation for generating the innovation, discoveries, and patents Indonesia needs to compete with other countries. Therefore, the government will not only improve educational infrastructure but also prepare a system capable of producing world-class human resources.
According to him, the government will rehabilitate schools, build elite schools for the best students, and implement the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum so that graduates have standards equivalent to the world’s best students. The hope is that they can continue their education at the world’s best universities and return to build Indonesia.
In addition, the government is opening up opportunities for cooperation with various world-renowned universities through partnership schemes so that the quality of national higher education also improves.
Prabowo explained that the decision to increase education investment stems from an approach that prioritises facts and scientific analysis. According to him, every policy must be based on reality, not just assumptions.
“So, if we approach it in a scientific, rational way, don’t use methods other than rational ones. We will make mistakes later. Rational, science, mathematics, reality. Reality is science, reality is mathematics. If we use other patterns, that has entered another realm. Facts. So sometimes facts are painful,” he said.
One fact that has caught the government’s attention is the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Prabowo acknowledged that the reading ability of Indonesian students is still below that of several countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, and the OECD country average.
However, he reminded that these comparisons must be seen in full context. Indonesia faces much greater challenges because it must manage around 388,000 schools spread across mountains, outer islands, and remote areas. This condition differs from countries with much smaller territories and populations.
Nevertheless, according to Prabowo, the magnitude of these challenges should not be used as an excuse to fall behind. The PISA results must be accepted as evaluation material so that Indonesia can catch up and once again improve the quality of education, as was achieved in the 2003 to 2006 period before experiencing a decline.
To finance these various programmes, Prabowo said the government will rely on the results of budget efficiency. Funds will be obtained through eradicating corruption, fraudulent practices, transaction manipulation, and improving governance to be more effective and targeted.