Education should follow developments in the world and teachers, as the catalyst of change in the education system, must follow their passion, in turn inspiring students to be curious and creative in navigating the future, education experts have said.

Activists have slammed the government for pressing ahead with installing the first batch of military reservists despite the law that regulates the controversial program still being reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

The Jakarta administration is considering a plan to restrict groundwater use to prevent the capital city from sinking further, but experts say the administration needs to provide equitable water access to the population before enacting such a policy.

With a recent decree, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo appointed 11 people – including close allies – to select the best candidates to serve as members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) for the five-year term beginning in 2022.

As one of the countries hardest hit by malaria in Southeast Asia, Indonesia stands to benefit from the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine that is currently being trialed for children aged five months and over in three African countries.

Rights groups have called on the government to remove the death penalty from the country’s legal system, given the lack of sufficient evidence that it would deter other people from committing crimes and the high risk of wrongful conviction.

Across the city, cafes and restaurants can be seen accepting more customers — almost like before the pandemic — and crowds are gradually returning to recently reopened tourist spots.

Jakarta recorded 16,122 deaths, more than five times the pre-pandemic death rate, when Delta hit the city in July.

The Health Ministry has said it planned to integrate healthcare services for mental health patients between psychiatric hospitals and community health centers (Puskesmas) in a bid to make psychiatric treatment available to more Indonesians in the future.

Local authorities have recorded an uptick in COVID-19 cases during the 20th National Games (PON) in Papua, as experts call on the government to take additional measures to anticipate a potential influx of cases once the sporting event ends next week.

The government has filed an appeal against a recent Central Jakarta District Court ruling that found President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and other top government officials guilty of negligence for failing to tackle Jakarta’s chronic air pollution.

Indonesia has around 3.36 million hectares of mangrove ecosystem, and the largest mangrove in the world. Of the lot, approximately 1.5 million hectares of Indonesian mangroves are located in the Papua and West Papua provinces.

The House of Representatives has approved President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s request to grant amnesty to Saiful Mahdi, a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, who was imprisoned last month for defamation under the controversial Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

The coalition has received numerous reports from students and parents about health protocol violations at schools in the past month, including the lack of mandatory sanitation facilities and teachers not wearing masks during class.

Activists and even the Health Ministry have taken issue with the national statistics agency for presenting data on child smokers sourced from two different surveys, pointing out that it could cause confusion at best and be misleading at worst.

Two of Indonesia’s coordinating ministers are mentioned in the latest leak of financial documents, dubbed the Pandora Papers, which revealed they had established offshore shell companies in tax havens, allegedly tying them to unreported wealth stored overseas.  

Indonesia’s scientific community is taking up its issue over the sweeping powers of the national research "super agency", both in and outside the courts.

The government has set up a new target of administering 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine shots per day in October, but experts called on the government to address fundamental issues, particularly improving vaccine access to vulnerable groups, before setting new daily goal.

The government announced on Monday that Bali, which has seen its tourist sector hit hard by the pandemic, would reopen for certain international arrivals starting on Oct. 14, as the pandemic situation in the country continued to improve.

After a year's delay due to the pandemic, the 20th National Games started in Papua over the weekend under heavy security -- the first major sporting event in the restive easternmost region of Indonesia and despite virus concerns.

Five former heads of the renowned Bogor Botanical Gardens have raised their concerns over planned commercial developments that they say supplants the national park's original purposes of conservation and scientific research.

A recent survey released by Jakarta-based pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia found that at least three out of 10 Indonesians were willing to pay for a booster shot.

The recent move by Switzerland-based organization the International Union for Conservation (IUCN), to list Komodo dragons, the world’s largest living lizards, as one of the world’s endangered species should be further scrutinized, Indonesian scientists have said.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo planted mangroves with members of the local community at Raja Kecik Beach, Muntai Barat village, Bengkalis regency, Riau, on Sept. 28, accompanied by the environment and forestry minister and the head of Mangrove and Peatland Restoration Agency (BRGM), Hartono.

Dozens of employees controversially removed from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will appeal their dismissal, staff members said on Thursday, fighting what they regard as a move to weaken a body that prosecuted hundreds of politicians and businessmen.

Low awareness and accountability among public electronic service providers (ESPs) continue to be the bane of Indonesia’s weak data-protection landscape, experts have said, as protection measures continue to lag behind the nation’s speedy digital transformation.

The dismissal of dozens of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) employees and investigators under the pretext of nationalism, which many see as the latest attempt to weaken the antigraft body, has faced a new twist: the police, known for its rivalry with the KPK, is opening its door for the ousted personnel.

Epidemiologists have warned the third wave may strike Indonesia in December or January, citing a slow vaccination rate and the expected increase in public mobility during the year-end holidays.

The Jakarta Post’s Marchio Irfan Gorbiano recently spoke to UIII’s rector Komaruddin Hidayat and the dean of UIII’s Faculty of Social Sciences Philips J. Vermonte about the new university and other topics.

Around 93 million people will have to pay for the booster shots, Airlangga said.