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Why Nadiem should encourage rural 'Nadiems'
His life story would have been so different had he been destined to grow up in a poor rural family like the ones studied recently by the Smeru Institute. Smeru found that children born into poverty are likely to remain poor and unsuccessful as adults.
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Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim (Instagram/@Kemendikbud.RI)
I
f there is one big surprise of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second term in office, it’s probably the appointment of some millennials to his new Cabinet. Among them, Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim is the shining star. Nadiem is undoubtedly a prime role model for the Indonesian millennial generation: He is young, inspiring, smart and of course very successful with his Gojek decacorn.
However, Nadiem was born into a wealthy family in first world Singapore, went to high-quality international schools, entered world class universities in the West and mastered perfect English. His life story would have been so different had he been destined to grow up in a poor rural family like the ones studied recently by the Smeru Institute. Smeru found that children born into poverty are likely to remain poor and unsuccessful as adults.
Of course, as scholars argue, brilliant persons like Nadiem cannot be replaced by digital technology. Being aware of this, Minister Nadiem looks determined to improve the quality of Indonesians through radical changes in the education sector. In a coordination meeting he expressed his top priorities as the new minister: student effectiveness, institutional structures, Jokowi’s mental revolution and technological development. Nadiem also urged teachers to revolutionize the way they educate.
Nadiem should expand his focus to encompass improving the quality of education in the village to break the cycle of poverty among villagers and the widening gap between the rich and the poor as well as to increase the poverty depth index. These problems affect student performance, as many families cannot afford nutritious food or obtain quality education. Research shows that childhood conditions and parental income greatly affect student success. The economic disadvantages faced by village students have seen them lag far behind their big city counterparts in the number of highly skilled pupils.
