Nadiem's Ministry Is Thinking About Making Batik A School Lesson

Photo by arief santoso on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The Director General of Culture, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Hilmar Farid said that the culture of batik cloth needs to be included in the lessons children get at school.

"What is still lacking is actually an understanding of the meaning and meaning of symbols in batik patterns. If this can be taught again in schools and to the general public, it will revive very good traditions," said Hilmar as quoted from Antara, Friday October 1st.

There has been a lot of education about batik from various media. However, the minister's subordinate Nadiem Makarim felt it would be more systematic if batik became part of the lessons given at school.

At least for the batik area. He said, the children in the area needed to recognize the symbols and meanings of the batik that became typical of the region.

If batik is applied in lessons at school, batik will become general information that can be used by the whole community on different occasions according to the meaning behind it.

“So, there are areas with certain motifs that have certain symbols, at least the children in those areas know. This has become common knowledge, for example, what kind of batik can be used for weddings and so on,” he said.

Furthermore, Hilmar said there are several batiks made with certain patterns, which have meaning in them. It will be interesting, if everyone can wear batik according to the meaning of the symbols in the batik pattern.

He gave an example that people cannot use slobong batik when attending a wedding, because the batik motif can only be used when they are grieving. Or conversely, people cannot attend the funeral by using trutum or sidoluhur batik which symbolizes happiness.

Hilmar said that by understanding and using batik, people can communicate their feelings and convey their goals to others through their priceless cultural heritage.

“So things like this if studied and understood will be interesting. People can convey, communicate they are in a state of grief, in a state of joy and so on,” he said.