Anies Baswedan Inaugurates Indonesian School In Kinabalu Malaysia In Memory Of Today, December 20, 2014

JAKARTA Memories of today, 10 years ago, December 20, 2014, the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Anies Baswedan inaugurated the Indonesian School of Kota Kinabalu (SIKK), Malaysia. The inauguration was carried out so that the children of Indonesian migrant workers could take education.

Previously, migrant workers had an important role in building the country's economy. They are nicknamed foreign exchange heroes. Recently, the government began to show its concern to migrant workers. One of them is through education.

Malaysia is one of the countries that is the goal of Indonesian migrant workers. This condition has been going on from the Old Order era. Languages that are not much different and cheap costs are the main reason Malaysia was visited.

Not to mention the issue of more income that can be generated from Indonesia. This condition makes them considered foreign exchange heroes by the government. However, the state has not really been present to provide protection to them.

National issues still dominate the government's focus. Everything changed when the SBY era government began presenting the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers (BNP2TKI). The institution began to think about the fate of migrant workers abroad.

Those who feel they have been cheated by the contract can immediately report for protection. Even the government began to attend by privileged migrant workers. Migrant workers are trying to be appointed.

All kinds of facilities from the departure and placement of migrant workers are starting to be considered. Protection of access to education for families of migrant workers is also presented. The narrative tries to illustrate that the state is really present.

The state is starting to show more attention to those known as migrant heroes. Even though it is still in a limited form.

"As one of the largest migrant worker countries in Southeast Asia, it can be said that in Indonesia, human resource investment is planned and mature to prepare for overseas work is still very limited," said Aswatini and friends in the book Migration as an Investment for Increasing Competitiveness for Indonesian Migrant Workers in the Global Market (2019).

State concern does not only arise from BNP2TKI. The Ministry of Education and Culture also took part in thinking about the fate of children from migrant workers. The Ministry of Education and Culture has begun to build Indonesian schools, especially in Malaysia. Take for example in Kinabalu.

Indonesian migrant workers there are piled up. Indonesian schools from SIKK to SIKK Elementary Schools have been built. Later in the Anies Baswedan era, the Minister of Education and Culture had also built a SMA Indonesian School Konabaiu SMA SIKK.

At its peak, SIKK High School was inaugurated by Anies Baswedan on December 20, 2014. Anies hopes that parents will continue to encourage their children to enter school. Anies considers school as his children's way of achieving success in the future.

At that time, the number of SIKK students reached 729 students. Each consists of 381 elementary school students, 224 junior high school students, and 124 high school/package C students. The government will also try to build other Indonesian schools in areas where there are many migrant workers.

"Furthermore, it is the duty of parents and teachers to encourage children to continue to learn to achieve their dreams in a better future," Anies said as quoted by the Tribunnews page, December 20, 2014.