Indonesia’s Education and Cultural Affairs Minister Nadiem Makarim has expressed his commitment to rebuild the country’s education system.
Makarim who was earlier appointed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo promised to “liberate” the country’s education division.
He made this statement while delivering his acceptance speech at the 107th anniversary of Muhammadiyah in the Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta University (UMY) on Monday.
According to him, he’s on a mission to rebuild, restructure and revive the Indonesia education ministry.
Makarim stressed that this mission would not be achievable if the education sector is not first liberated, starting from the ministry officials, the teachers, and its students.
The former CEO and co-founder of GoJek also said that he intends to promote character education as he believes it cannot only be taught but must also be made an exemplar of.
The appointment of Makarim is expected to lead to rapid innovation and revitalization of Indonesia’s education sector.
Makarim further thanked the Islamic organization, for its assistance in improving Indonesia’s education sector, during the Muhammadiyah event.
Makarim tasked to manage education funds
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s finance minister said she was expecting numerous improvements from the education and culture minister Nadiem Makarim in reviving the education sector.
Sri Indrawati said that Nadiem Makarim could do great things if he manages the educational funds properly. He is making sure that every region is equally provided with quality educational service.
The finance minister said;
Perhaps, we can see his initiatives in effectuating educational spending that mostly in the form of non-physical DAK (special allocation funds) as the school operational assistance (BOS).
Makarim’s educational initiatives
The education and cultural affairs minister since his appointment has created several educational schemes, such as “the non-physical DAK”. Through DAK, the government assists regions by financing educational activities related to health and tourism other than physical development, such as building construction.
According to the finance minister, the non-physical DAK in 2020 was allocated Rp130.3 trillion, higher than last year’s Rp4.60 trillion, while the next physical DAK budget was placed at Rp72.2 trillion. This is an increase of over 10 percent of the 2019 allocation.
Sri Indrawati stressed that good economic management would lead to a highly viable workforce. Stating through this scheme Indonesia could achieve its goal as a developed country.
She added, the country cannot develop if the people don’t have good education, knowledge, skills, and work ethic.
