Minister of Culture Promotes Islamic PAUD Curriculum: Fairy Tales and Museums Enter the Classroom

JAKARTA - The Minister of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Fadli Zon, encourages a culture-based PAUD and TK curriculum that instills Islamic values from an early age. The encouragement was conveyed during a dialogue with the Central Leadership of the Islamic Children's Park Coordination Agency - Indonesian Mosque Council (PP BKTKI-DMI) at the E Building of the Ministry of Education, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, February 23.

Fadli considers early childhood education inseparable from culture. He emphasizes the tradition of storytelling as an inexpensive entrance, close to the family, and relevant to shaping the child's character.

"Cultivating cultural awareness must start from an early age so that it can shape the character of a strong golden generation. One way is to instill cultural values, Islamic values and character values through fairy tales," said Fadli. He said that the stories told by parents from long ago taught integrity and akhlakul karimah.

In addition to classroom materials, Fadli also encourages PAUD children to get to know museums and cultural heritage more often. According to him, regular visits are not just recreation, but a way to train children's closeness to history and identity. "We also want early childhood to start loving museums," he said, citing the National Museum of Indonesia for children in Jakarta and provincial museums for the region.

PP BKTKI-DMI Chairman Dr. Chandra Wati welcomed the plan for cooperation. "Early childhood is the foundation of the next generation... learning from the cultural side must be attached to children in early childhood," he said.

In exploring the program, both parties discussed the digitization of Indonesian Islamic cultural content, training of kindergarten teachers, Islamic traditional game movement, festivals, to research and development of PAUD curriculum based on mosque culture.