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Pancasila should become subject at school: Association
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Preserving Pancasila: President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo attends a celebration of Pancasila Day at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Pejambon, Central Jakarta, on June 1. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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ndonesian Teachers Association (PGRI) head Unifah Rasyidi has suggested that Indonesia’s state ideology of Pancasila become its own subject at school. Currently, the teaching of Pancasila is fused with civic education in a subject called Pancasila and Civic Education (PPKN).
“Nowadays, we’ve seen the understanding of values of Pancasila as our state ideology begin to fade at schools. Instead, ideologies containing radicalism and intolerance have begun to spread in our educational institutions,” said Unifah as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Thursday.
She further said taking out Pancasila from PPKN was crucial because the latter taught students only about state affairs, with Pancasila no longer used as a reference for shaping behavior.
Unifah said the nation needed to reevaluate how it approached spreading the values of Pancasila and that student activities, including the Indonesian Scout Movement (Pramuka) and official student organization OSIS, should adopt wawasan kebangsaan [archipelagic outlook].
“More importantly, Pancasila must be practiced in daily life,” said Unifah, pointing out that flag-hoisting ceremonies were no longer mandatory at schools.
“As of today, I have not yet seen proper teaching methods of Pancasila values."
She called on the Education and Culture Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry to conduct a study to asses how Pancasila is taught. (rdi/ebf)
