Minister Nadiem Makarim Spokes For Education Technology At The United Nations Headquarters

JAKARTA - Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Anwar Makarim was lined up to talk about technology in education in the Transforming Education Summit series which was held at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), New York City, United States (US).

Using technology in education is not an option for Indonesia because of the various schools, demographics, stakeholders, and so on. Technology in education has become a necessity," Nadiem said as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, September 18.

It is known, in April 2020, 96 percent of schools in Indonesia were closed due to the pandemic.

This has resulted in a crisis of learning and the disparity of access to technology that is increasingly real.

The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Education and Culture has quickly changed its approach to technology. Often technology is thought about only after a program is launched and waives convenience for stakeholders to use it," said Nadiem.

"Now on the other hand, technology is developed seriously along with the planned policy, as well as prioritizing the benefits and ease of access for its users," he continued.

Nadiem Makarim's explanation is evidenced by various technology platforms that are now used by millions of teachers, academic community, education partners, and MSMEs.

Call it the Merdeka Teaching platform, Education Raports, Merdeka Campus, Kedaireka, study.id, Arkas, AskBOS, and SIPLah.

The Merdeka Teaching platform has been used by 1.6 million teachers since its seven months of launch. 55 thousand learning content for teachers is available on the platform. 92 thousand teachers have also uploaded content to inspire other teachers in various parts of Indonesia, explained Nadiem.

Nadiem also took the example of the Education Raport platform which has utilized more than 141,000 schools and 505 local governments.

"For the first time in Indonesia, local governments have access to complete data that can help them determine the direction of policies and budgets for education appropriately," he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of Future Learning and Innovation of the World Bank, Jaime Saavedra said, many countries are unable to transform like Indonesia because there is no quality of leadership in the ministry of education or there is no political support.

Minister Nadiem spoke in a panel discussion consisting of the Minister of Education and Science Mongolia, Engkh-Amgalan Luvsanteren; Global Director for Global Education Practice of the World Bank, Jaime Saavedra; Director of Future Learning and Innovation of UNESCO, Sobhi Tawil; and Vice President for Microsoft's global education, Rick Herrmann.

Acting Head of BKHM Kemendikbudristek, Anang Ristanto, said that the visit of the Minister of Education and Culture to the US has two special missions. First, to emphasize Indonesia's leadership in terms of the transformation of the education system through Merdeka Learning breakthroughs.

Furthermore, to encourage cooperation, among others, in the field of higher education with a number of universities and in the field of culture with the world's top research and formulation institutions based in the US.

In addition to speaking at the UN Headquarters, Nadiem also provides guest lectures at New York University and meets Indonesian students in New York.