Indonesian spirit of ‘gotong royong’ guides global commitment in education recovery and transformation

In the spirit of gotong royong (mutual cooperation) to improve the education system, the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry finalized the material for the Education Working Group (EdWG) Report and its accompanying compendium at its fourth meeting in Bali on Thursday (01/09/2022).

The Education Ministers’ Meeting (EdMM) was attended by the ministry, along with Group of 20 members, special invitees and other international organizations. The G20 Education Working Group summit follows four working group conferences led by the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry.

Minister Nadiem Makarim opened the ceremony virtually by inviting all delegates to learn from each other’s best practices to build a more robust and relevant education system.

In the spirit of collaboration and the principles of Indonesia’s G20 presidency, it was the forum’s aspiration that the spirit of gotong royong be carried forward to the next presidencies to promote global collaboration in realizing educational transformation.

"This spirit of gotong royong has guided Indonesia's G20 presidency, and it is my sincere hope that this spirit will be carried forward to the next presidency in the years to come," said Nadiem, noting that the education ministry had learned from other countries’ perspectives and experiences.

Iwan Syahril, the ministry’s teachers and education personnel director general and early childhood education, primary education and secondary education director general, chaired the meeting. He highlighted the importance of the principle of gotong royong, which was aligned with Indonesia’s national value of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity) – when differences in values, perspectives and backgrounds come together to create harmony. He added that the spirit of collaboration behind the motto had further strengthened his desire to achieve quality education for all.

“We believe that the Working Group Report and Compendium reflect our spirit of gotong royong, collaboration and partnership in the spirit of achieving collective goals. Again, the information and insights presented in the documents are valuable contributions to our effort to recover stronger and recover together toward a more inclusive and sustainable future,” said Anindito Aditomo, alternate chair of the meeting and head of the ministry’s standards, curriculum and education assessment agency.

Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general UNESCO for education expressed her appreciation to the Indonesian presidency for its leadership over the past year.

“We worked together across nations and cultures in the true spirit of gotong royong, and this is the only way to work in a world facing daunting collective challenges that require urgent solidarity and partnership to reimagine our futures together. This is also the role and responsibility of the G20 group as leading countries and agents of change,” said Stefania.

Nadiem explained the contents of the deliverables, which followed priorities set at the first meeting: universal quality education, digital technology in education, solidarity and partnership and the future of work post COVID-19. The documents present the mapping of challenges and various strategies, as well as best practices from 26 countries, with more than 150 education priority programs.

“The EdWG series produced a report and the compendium, which are highly important documents in our efforts to promote recovery and strengthen and transform the global education system. These two documents reflect best practices, goals to achieve and dreams of a better future for us all together,” he said.

The accompanying compendium, the summary, was basically a united voice among G20 member countries to restore and reimage the education sector. It was also presented at the EdMM meeting along with the report by Nadiem.

Both of the deliverables showcased the commitment of delegates from various countries to achieving quality education for all to create a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable society. They are expected to support other countries in designing and implementing stronger and more resilient education policies aimed at tackling learning loss brought about by the pandemic to work toward the achievement of a universal quality education by 2030.

Following the first meeting in Yogyakarta that was held in March of this year, minister Nadiem recalled the productive meeting that ended with finalizing the four priorities for the group, which serve as the guiding principles of the G20 EdWG in policy initiatives and policy planning. He then reflected on how much progress had been made since then.

“We then marked an important milestone during the second Education Working Group meeting on [May 18 and 19] by agreeing to bring the voice of the G20 to the United Nations’ Transforming Education Summit,” he said.

Nadiem added that the discussion on the deliverables later continued in the third meeting on July 26 and 27 and during the fourth meeting on Thursday.

Much progress has been made since its first draft in March, and the result is also in line with the United Nations’ commitment regarding the education sector in terms of integrating approaches, learning resources and other methods in education policies and practices.

In the near future, the education ministry plans to bring the finalized materials of the G20 to the next Transforming Education Summit (TES) meeting held at the UN Headquarters in New York, the United States, in September, along with other international forums. This was part of the ministry’s commitment to mobilizing global collaboration to transforming the future of global education.

Minister Nadiem’s opening remarks also highlighted his hope that all delegates would continue learning from each other and promoting global collaboration in order to ensure that everyone had access to quality education.

“I hope we can all take this opportunity to learn from each other’s best practices so that we will be able to lay the foundations of stronger global collaboration to build education systems fit for the 21^st century and beyond,” Nadiem said. “It is imperative for us as leaders to work together in realizing a better future for all children, at all levels, in all countries.”

“We have achieved an important milestone, and I strongly believe that we will bring recovery to global education with the spirit of collaboration. This is the legacy of Indonesia's presidency that will hopefully be continued in the next presidency by India and in years to come,” concluded Iwan Syahril, chair of the G20 EdWG 2022. India will assume the position of G20 president next year.

Neeta Prasad, India’s Troika cochair, also expressed her appreciation and support for Indonesia’s achievements from the first to fourth EdWG meetings, especially based on the initiatives and reports published by Indonesia as G20 president. Neeta felt it was necessary for countries to share information with each other in order to learn more about one another, “laying the ground for solidarity among us and for furthering our collaboration”.

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