Minister Nadiem Sparks Hope, But Structural Hurdles Loom

Riska Rahman, Esther Samboh and Arya Dipa

The Jakarta Post | Jakarta/Bandung, West Java / Thu, October 24 2019 / 12:28 am

The appointment of technology giant Gojek cofounder Nadiem Makarim as education and culture
minister is hoped to make a positive impact on the country’s digital economy, but education
experts said structural problems might hinder his plans for a breakthrough.

The tech sector cheered over President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s pick. It was “the first [of this]
kind of appointment in the world and it could be an option for other leaders”, said Jakarta-based
East Venture managing partner Wilson Cuaca.

“Nadiem’s appointment could not only make students be more digital savvy or ready for the
digital industry, but also prepare the education system and the next generation’s capabilities to
be relevant with time,” Wilson told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Impressed by Nadiem’s success in leading Gojek from being a delivery call center connecting 20
ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers and customers in South Jakarta to becoming a US$10 billion
company with 2 million partners across Southeast Asia, President Jokowi chose Nadiem to helm
of the Education and Culture Ministry.

“Gojek thrives on talent and if Indonesia is to produce more high quality talent, the country’s
education system is going to have to undergo a transformation just like the one that began on
the streets of Jakarta in 2010,” 35-year-old Nadiem, Indonesia’s youngest-ever minister, wrote
in his farewell note to Gojek staff members, as obtained by the Post.

Indonesia’s digital economy is on track to triple to $130 billion by 2025 and dominate Southeast
Asia, according to the “e-Conomy Southeast Asia” study released earlier this month. However,
the country is facing an alarming tech talent shortage, with a 2018 World Bank report projecting
Indonesia to experience a shortage of 9 million digital skills between 2015 and 2030.

Across the board in other business sectors, yawning skill mismatches between job seekers and
employers have turned attention to structural issues within Indonesia’s educational system,
which many consider as requiring a breakthrough to bridge the gap.

“[I appoint] Nadiem Anwar Makarim as education and culture minister to create significant
breakthroughs in developing human resources that can match education with the industry and
prepare human resources that are ready for work,” President Jokowi said.

As talent and human resources development are central to Jokowi’s focus for his second term,
the President has identified the need to break through the “monotonous routine”, which many
perceive as the thinking behind Nadiem’s appointment. Previous education ministers had
educational or pedagogical backgrounds.

Education experts in Indonesia were quick to highlight a deeply rooted problem in our education
system that disadvantages the nation when competing with other countries, which they consider
a Herculean task for Nadiem to deal with. Although 20 percent of the state budget is required by
law to be allocated to education spending, Indonesian students’ test scores and the availability
of teachers remained low.

Indonesians’ score on the Program for International Student Assessment, which measures the
reading, mathematics and science literacy of 15-year-old students, positioned the country at
62nd place out of 72 countries surveyed.

“Our elementary students graduated school with more than 80 percent failing in math, literacy
and science — so what can Nadiem do about it?” wrote Muhammad Ramli Rahim, chairman of
the Association of Indonesian Teachers, in response to Jokowi’s Cabinet announcement.

The teacher shortage at public schools reached 1.1 million, excluding almost 400,000 teachers
who are to retire from 2020 to 2024, added Ramli, questioning the President’s 2045 vision that
Indonesia should be among the top five of the world’s largest economies with a per capita income
of Rp 320 million ($22,805.82) per year.

“Vocational school graduates have the highest unemployment rate in Indonesia,” Ramli said,
referring to the 8.63 percent unemployment rate of graduates of vocational high schools, which
are meant to train students for specific jobs.

“It is possible that after several attempts of trying out the ‘professors’, now Pak Jokowi wants to
choose a fresh face with not too many theories,” Ramli concluded.

An education expert from the Education University of Indonesia, Ace Suryadi, said he saw three
primary challenges in the development of the education sector that Nadiem would need to
address: curriculum, teachers’ perspectives and regional governments’ roles in education.

“The existing curriculum is very theoretical. Pak Nadiem needs to quickly change the curriculum
so that it’s applicable, especially for digital mind-sets, basic literacy and digital literacy. If the
curriculum is not changed, teachers will return to existing curriculums because they are very
curriculum-compliant,” said Ace, adding that the standard national test would need reform to
prioritize basic comprehension.

There are currently 3 million teachers across Indonesia, mostly from the baby boomer
generation, and empowering them would require a breakthrough, he said, adding: “Their
orientation has been toward the old ways of teaching. They need more training so that they, too,
can understand digital literacy.”
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