Implementing the Concept of Holistic Education

for Improving Indonesia’s Educational System

Introduction
In recent decades, Indonesia has made enormous strides in improving access to
education. Indonesia had more than 75 thousand schools and 600 thousand teachers at the
start of the New Order in the early 1970s. During the 1970s and early 1980s, when
international oil prices were high, the New Order spent heavily on building new public
schools, particularly primary schools, and recruiting teachers. Then, with a focus on junior
secondary and senior secondary schools, post-New Order governments have continued to
build new schools (although at a much slower rate than during the 1970s and early 1980s)
and hire a lot of teachers. By 2011, the country had over 200,000 schools and three million
teachers. Those numbers have been improving, and in 2019, according to the Indonesian
Ministry of Education and Culture, the Indonesian formal education system employed 3.3
million teachers educating 53.1 million students in grades 1 through 12 (World Bank, 2020).
Furthermore, Indonesia has had great success in enrolling and retaining students in school, at
least until the end of the compulsory education period. According to World Bank data, gross
enrollment rates in primary education increased significantly among Indonesians during the
1970s and 1980s, while gross enrollment rates in secondary education began to rise in the
early 1990s. It demonstrates that, following the implementation of the compulsory education
system by the Indonesian government, Indonesians can begin their education earlier and stay
in school for longer than ever before.
However, this dramatic increase in educational access has not been matched by
improvements in educational quality or learning outcomes. Despite several curriculum
reforms, the quality of education in Indonesia remains inadequate, resulting in low academic
performance among students. The performance of Indonesia in international standardised
tests of student achievement from 1999 to 2015 suggests that little has changed in these areas
since the fall of the New Order. In the most recent PISA iteration in 2018, Indonesia
continues to lag behind the OECD and East Asia and Pacific averages in reading (score 371),
mathematics (score 379), and science (score 396), and it also shows that 51.7% of Indonesian
15-year-olds failed to meet minimum standards in all test areas. Science scores among
15-year-old students in Indonesia increased by 21 points between 2012 and 2015. Indonesia
also made significant gains in mathematics between 2003 and 2015, coinciding with the rapid
expansion of enrollment and the inclusion of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds
into the education system. However, some of the PISA gains from 2015 were lost between
2015 and 2018. As one might expect, its scores are significantly lower than those of OECD
and East Asian high-income countries. In 2015, the Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) assessment yielded similar results, with Indonesia ranking among the
lower-achieving countries. Therefore, Indonesia's current most significant educational
challenge is not about improving access anymore but rather improving education quality.
Besides those problems related to the system, education in Indonesia also faces other
issues. The first issue is related to school climate and is about how to prevent and reduce
bullying among Indonesian students, particularly those who are under the age of 15.
According to a 2018 PISA survey, 41.1% of Indonesian students were bullied (including any
type of bullying act) at least a few times per month, compared to 23% on average across
OECD countries. This higher-than-average rate of bullying is concerning, because school
bullying not only affects the academic performance of bullied students, but it can also harm
all students' learning by creating a negative school climate (Huang, 2020). Furthermore,
students who are frequently bullied are also more likely to skip school (OECD, 2018). The
next problems are related to students’ attitudes and mentalities. Based on the PISA survey in
2018, only 28.5% of Indonesian students agreed or strongly agreed that "your intelligence is
something about you that you can't change very much." At the same time, 70% of Indonesian
students reported that they are satisfied with their lives. It means that most Indonesian
students lack a growth mindset. When students lack a growth mindset, they tend to hold
themselves back by staying in their comfort zone, which can hamper their development. It is
also mentioned in the survey’s results that Indonesia also had one of the lowest levels of
student awareness of global issues (-0.51), self-efficacy regarding global issues (-0.62), and
respect for people from other cultures (-0.34) among PISA-participating countries. This
demonstrates that, in general, most Indonesian students lack cultural intelligence, which is
ironic given the country's multiculturalism.

Problem Statement
The quality of the Indonesian educational system has not improved significantly over
the last decade, despite several curriculum reforms, while educational access to Indonesian
citizens has increased at every stage of education. It is demonstrated by the most recent PISA
test results from Indonesia, which were lower than the OECD average and even lower than
some Southeast Asian countries. It is also exacerbated by Indonesian students' lack of growth
mindset and cultural intelligence, as well as a poor educational climate among schools. We
have managed to identify two significant reasons of this problem. Firstly, learning in the
Indonesian educational system focuses solely on academic aspects and has not yet fully
developed other aspects such as physical, emotional, spiritual, and creative. Secondly, schools
in Indonesia have not been able to provide an adequate opportunity for all students to develop
and make them feel secure during the learning and interaction processes. As a result,
Indonesia should develop an educational system that approaches the educational process
holistically to effectively develop all aspects of each person's capabilities and foster a school
climate that supports student development.

Holistic Education and Its Current Implementation Progress in Indonesia

Holistic education is a paradigm, a set of basic assumptions and principles that allows
everyone to find identity, meaning, and purpose in life through community relationships and
spiritual values (Miller, 2000; Pettersen, 2015 on Widyastono, 2012). Holistic education
fosters not only one aspect of students's intelligence but also their emotional, physical, social,
aesthetic, and spiritual development (Sutarman et. al.., 2017 on Widyastono, 2012). The
holistic paradigm is a new educational perspective that is critical in developing each child's
potential to a higher level (Mukminin et. al.., 2019). These broad characteristics can be
applied to holistic education. For starters, it promotes the overall development of the
individual. Second, it revolves around relationships (equality, openness, and democracy).
Third, it is concerned with life experiences rather than "basic skills." It also acknowledges
that cultures are created and can be changed by people. Finally, it is based on a deep
reverence for life and the unknown (and never fully understandable) source of life
(Mahmoudi et. al., 2012).
Holistic education broadens and deepens the educational process (Hare, 2010). It is a
planned approach that promotes personal responsibility, a positive attitude toward learning,
and the development of social skills. According to the School of Education at American
University, incorporating the concept of holistic education into the educational system will
result in the following:
● Improving academic performance. Holistic education can improve academic
achievement of all students, regardless of background or circumstances, by catering to
individual learning styles and providing a supportive learning environment. Students’
brain capacities grow when they feel safe and connected to others.
● Improving mental and emotional health. In a supportive environment that emphasizes
social and emotional learning alongside academics, students have a better chance of
developing self-awareness, confidence, and a sense of social responsibility.
● Improving problem-solving abilities. Students who are challenged to solve real-world
community problems develop strong critical-thinking skills. These hands-on projects
teach students skills that will be useful in their adult lives, such as data collection,
analysis, and reporting, as well as teamwork.
● Reducing the impact of inequity. The whole-student approach to education has been
shown to reduce the psychological impact of issues such as bullying or poverty on
academic achievement by emphasizing integrated learning concepts.
Indonesia has been on a journey for the last two decades to implement a more holistic
approach to developing its educational curriculum. Essentially, the holistic education concept
has been incorporated into the Indonesian educational curriculum for primary and secondary
education, as its core principals, benchmarks, and procedures align with the definition,
objectives, and principles of holistic education (Widyastono, 2012). The holistic education
concept has been incorporated into Indonesian education curricula since the implementation
of the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (2006-2013) and the 2013 Curriculum
(2013-2022), which also applied the concept of "student-centered" and "student-based"
learning (Mukminin et. al., 2019). However, while the holistic education concept was
included in the curriculum, it was not fully implemented in the learning activities at schools.
In recent years, the Indonesian government has declared its intention to develop an
adaptive, productive, innovative, and competitive Indonesia that will make the country one of
the strongest in the world, emphasizing that developing human resources is the key to this
more prosperous future. To prosper, Indonesia requires an education and training system that
can improve its citizens' well-being, human capital, and economic and development goals.
Creating a more holistic educational system became the new imperative for Indonesian
education, leading to the development of a new educational reform. The Indonesian Ministry
of Education and Culture (MoEC) will launch a series of reforms in 2019 under the Merdeka
Belajar (Freedom to Learn) policy. As the name implies, the policy allows for flexibility in
how learning activities are implemented based on local wisdom, infrastructure availability,
and socioeconomic and cultural factors (World Bank, 2020).
 Recent student assessment policy reforms (MoEC Regulation No. 43/2019 on
National Exam Administration) are a step in the right direction. According to the MoEC, "the
implementation of the national exam in 2021 will be modified to the Assessment of
Minimum Competency and Survey of Character, which comprises of the ability of language
(literacy), the ability of math (numeracy), and the reinforcement of character education." The
assessment is intended to assess students' achievement in cognitive learning outcomes,
specifically literacy and numeracy, which are required for students to contribute to society
regardless of the future career they wish to pursue (Cabinet Secretariat of the Republic of
Indonesia, 2020). The MoEC cancelled the 2020 national test earlier than scheduled due to
COVID-19 (MoEC Circular Letter No. 4/2020). The student assessment framework is now in
flux, and getting it right is crucial if it is to help motivate the education system at all levels to
focus on improving student learning outcomes and achievements. The MoEC has also created
the Kurikulum Merdeka (Freedom Curriculum), which will be implemented in the 2022/2023
academic year. This curriculum is designed to allow schools, particularly instructors, to tailor
their learning materials and objectives to their students' needs and interests, as well as the
resources available at each school.

Objectives
The Merdeka Belajar policy, which involves a series of reforms pertaining to the
Indonesian national education system, is a great and massive initiative in implementing the
notion of holistic education. However, because those reforms are still in the early phases of
implementation, they still need to be complemented by other policies to make them even
better. This educational reform is essentially aligned with the vision of the Indonesian
government, as explained in the fourth chapter of Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah
Nasional 2020-2024 (RPJMN or National Medium Development Plan), which aims to
develop "quality and competitive human resources" who are "healthy and smart, adaptive,
innovative, skilled, and of character" (World Bank, 2020).
One of the strategic policies to attain the specified aim, according to the RPJMN
2020-2024, is to improve equity in quality education services by increasing teaching and
learning quality. These initiatives include: implementing the curriculum by providing
teaching reinforcement focusing on math, literacy, and science skills at all levels;
strengthening early grade literacy education and new literacy (digital, data, and social
literacy) with effective and appropriate teaching strategies; improving the quality of
assessment of student learning outcomes, particularly by strengthening educators' roles in
assessing learning in class, and increasing the use of assessment results as part of the learning
process improvement; increasing educators' competence and professionalism; increasing the
use of ICT in learning, particularly in synergizing distance learning models and online
learning systems; integrating soft skills (non-technical skills) in learning; and improving the
quality of character education. It is also stated that by improving educational quality,
Indonesian average students' performance in the next PISA iteration will improve.
Given the Indonesian government's vision and the challenges with the country's
current inadequate educational system, the goals and objectives of implementing the
recommended policies are as follows:
 ● Increasing Indonesian students' mastery of fundamental skills measured by the PISA
test, such as literacy, numeracy, and basic science. The RPJMN 2020-2024 aims to
raise the average reading score among Indonesian students under the age of 15 from
371 to 396, mathematics from 379 to 388, and science from 396 to 402. Furthermore,
in the next iteration, the percentage of students exceeding the PISA test's minimum
competency standard is targeted to rise by 10% to 13%.
● Making schools have a much better atmosphere and climate so that Indonesian
students can benefit from a supportive learning environment that will help them grow.
As a result of implementing the recommended policies, it is expected that the negative
impact of an inadequate school climate, such as bullying, can be significantly
reduced, allowing students to feel more comfortable learning and developing
themselves at their respective schools.
● Instilling in Indonesian students a growth mindset and cultural intelligence, as well as
raising awareness of many critical issues, starting from their surroundings. Growth
mindset is important for students as it can drive them to perform better academically,
as well as push them to go out of their comfort zone. Furthermore, with a sufficient
level of cultural intelligence, students will be able to acquire multiple perspectives,
respect that other people may have ideas or perspectives that differ from their own,
understand other cultures, be aware of the globalized world and realize that nations
are much more intertwined, and become aware of the globalized world and realize
that nations are much more intertwined (Koç & Turan, 2018).
The recommended policies concerning the holistic educational concept will primarily
target Indonesian students under the age of 15, which includes primary and lower secondary
school students. Aside from that, teachers, particularly those in elementary and secondary
schools, are an important target for the implementation of the recommended policies. They
are the ones who directly deliver the reform-based curriculum's contents to the students, as
well as the pivotal figure in determining the success of those policies. Students and teachers
will be the most important stakeholders to consider when putting the recommended policies
into action. Other stakeholders, in addition to the key stakeholders, will be involved in the
implementation of the recommended policies, including school administrations, student
parents, central and regional government, community, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), educational technology (EdTech) enterprises, and education experts. These policies
will also promote collective efforts and collaborations among all stakeholders.

Options
When it comes to reforming an education system, a country can choose to focus on
one or all of the following aspects: processes, structures, and resources. In the case of
Indonesia, which will be thoroughly explained throughout this policy paper, we will try to
focus on suggesting some process reform options to supplement the existing Merdeka Belajar
reform. Reforming the process within the education system entails changing all of the
practices, activities, rights, and responsibilities within the system in order to improve its
performance. There are two main strategies for reforming the process within the education
system, which are changing the contents delivered by the system and improving how the
contents are delivered by the system, including its people (Barber et. al., 2010).
 To revise the contents delivered by the education system, the Indonesian government,
through the MoEC, can try to introduce higher standards and new teaching materials, as well
as keep the curriculum and textbooks up to date with recent issues and technological
advancements. On the other hand, to improve how the education system, including its people,
delivers content, it is critical to empower teachers and schools. Empowering teachers and
schools entails the MoEC improving their capabilities so that they can deliver learning
materials more effectively, by providing pre-service and in-service training, increasing
leadership capacity among teachers and principals, and establishing clearer accountability
mechanisms including assessments and targets, school evaluation, and teacher and staff
appraisals. These two strategies will serve as a foundation for policy recommendations that
will be developed to supplement the use of the holistic education concept for Indonesia's
education system improvement.
Based on those core strategies, we were able to develop three alternative solutions that
aim to supplement the current reform in implementing the holistic education concept in
Indonesia's education system. To begin, the government, through the MoEC, should commit
to developing a more holistic educational climate that can help students develop their
essential academic and life skills as a whole by redeveloping the curriculum and school
management policy on a regular basis. Second, the MoEC should encourage schools to foster
a more supportive school climate that promotes students' growth. Third, the MoEC should
commit to optimizing and empowering the student development support systems, particularly
teachers and the entire school management system including the policies and facilities.

Alternative Solution 1: Developing a more holistic educational climate

This alternative solution is student-centered, as students will be the most affected
stakeholders as these policies are implemented. The holistic education philosophy is a
learning process that develops individuals holistically, in which all dimensions develop in a
balanced and optimal manner, including the development of individual consciousness that
they are part of their family, school, environment, society, and global community. According
to the Indonesia Heritage Foundation, an education system can be considered holistic when it
pays attention to these following developmental aspects, which are essential for students.
● Academic, including students’ capabilities to think logically (logics), speak and write
clearly (language), and being critical when asking questions (critical thinking) and
drawing conclusions from a variety of sources (literacy), as well as possessing the
basic numeracy skills, such as mathematics and science.
● Physical, including students’ capabilities to attain optimal development of gross and
fine motoric skills as well as maintaining their health and stamina.
● Emotional, including students’ capabilities to maintain their mental health and
wellbeing, acknowledging their emotions and feelings (emotional intelligence),
manage their stress, control their feelings and emotions, self-confidence, courage to
take risks (self-efficacy), and sympathizing for others (empathy).
● Social and culture, including students’ capabilities to be socially aware in their
environment, respect cultural differences (cultural intelligence), be passionate about
learning, be friendly, obey, and work in teams.
 ● Creativity, including students’ capabilities to express themselves in productive
activities and find appropriate solutions to a variety of problems.
● Spiritual, including students’ capabilities to interpret the meaning and purpose of life,
as well as assessing oneself and understanding one's mission in life, is an important
component of a larger life system.
To develop those mentioned aspects, there are some important things to consider
when it comes to updating or redeveloping the existing curriculum and school management.
The curriculum has to ensure that students reach at least the minimum standard of learning
and development, as well as equip them with the basic skills that are relevant to everyday life.
The curriculum's learning model has to be consistent with increasing student capabilities, and
it should include the necessary supporting materials to improve students' skills and
capabilities (Barber et. al., 2010). In addition to the core content of the curriculum, 21st
century skills for Industry 4.0—such as communication, collaboration, and critical
thinking—can be expanded in a revised curriculum and taught early on and reinforced
throughout the lifelong learning process (World Bank, 2020). In other words, the curriculum
has to enable students to learn how to think critically and equip them with a basic mastery of
current technology. Furthermore, climate change would be an important topic to include
across disciplines due to its expected impact on the economy and lives of Indonesians.
The curriculum should place a greater emphasis on measurable and observable aspects
of the educational process that are more closely related to learning. This can make it easier
for schools to track student development and assess student learning. Emphasizing aspects
related to learning can raise awareness of the importance of learning among all stakeholders
of these policies, particularly key stakeholders. It can also inform teachers and school
management about where they should focus their efforts to improve learning (World Bank,
2020). Because schools determine the specific objectives of learning activities while the
MoEC provides broad guidelines about learning objectives, teachers of various subjects
should plan their teaching with clear educational purposes. These goals should reflect the
values and worldviews that underpin the subject matter being taught (Tirri, 2011).
Furthermore, it is critical to encourage students to set clear and specific goals (e.g., SMART
goals) so they can track their development and learning progress, which can foster students'
accountability for their progress.
Outside-of-class learning experiences should be expanded as they have a number of
advantages for students. It can provide a student-centered learning experience that encourage
students to apply what they have learned outside the class, that can improve learning and
foster personal and social development (Larsen et. al., 2017). Furthermore, students who
participate in outside-of-class learning experiences report higher levels of motivation, more
vivid recall of course material, and improved academic performance in class (Ryan & Deci,
2017, on Claiborne et. al., 2020). Moreover, outside-of-classroom learning experiences can
serve as interdisciplinary sites of engagement, where students are encouraged to apply
knowledge from different classes and integrate it into their analysis of what is going on
around them. Students can think critically about various social issues that can encourage the
students to become more self-reflective learners (Short et. al., 2017). To summarize,
outside-of-class learning experiences can help students become more aware of current issues
in their communities, as well as to increase their social awareness and cultural intelligence.
 In terms of maintaining students’ mental well-being, schools should pay more
attention to their student's mental health by improving the quality of their counseling
services. Schools must improve students' access to services and supports such as counseling
and academic advice. This entails increasing awareness of these services as well as ensuring
that they are adequately resourced to meet student demand (Baik et. al., 2019). Most schools
in Indonesia have undervalued the importance of student counseling services. Many school
counselors do not know what to do because their basic knowledge does not correspond to
previous knowledge or lectures. In the end, what was done was purely administrative. As a
result, it is critical for the government to encourage schools to be more concerned about their
students' mental health by focusing on the quality of counseling services. This can help
students solve school problems and discover their interests and passions.

Alternative Solution 2: Creating a more supportive school climate that facilitates students’
development
The concept of school climate is broad and complex, encompassing many facets of a
student's educational experience. According to the National Center on Safe Supportive
Learning Environments, school's focus on fostering safety, encouraging a supportive
academic, disciplinary, and physical environment, and encouraging and maintaining
respectful, trusting, and caring relationships throughout the school community, are all factors
that contribute to a positive school climate. The success of a student is directly correlated
with the school climate, which can increase graduation rates as well as attendance,
achievement, and retention (MacNeil et. al., 2009). On the other hand, a negative school
environment can hurt students and cause liability problems for districts and schools. A
negative school environment fosters violence, bullying, and even suicide, and it is associated
with lower student achievement. It is crucial that all students have the chance to attend
schools that offer a safe and supportive environment where they can thrive and fully engage
in their studies as there is strong evidence linking school climate and academic achievement.
To create a more supportive school climate that facilitates students' development,
schools should be encouraged to implement a clear anti-bullying, anti-discrimination, and
anti-harassment policy. It must also include a prevention and eradication strategy to ensure
that all students are safe and secure at school. This recommendation is aligned with the
MoEC initiatives to prevent and stop bullying at schools or other educational institutions
(MoEC Regulation No. 82/2015 on Prevention and Control of Violence Actions in the
Educational Institution Environment). According to that regulation, schools or other
educational institutions have to take action to prevent violence by creating a safe
environment, reporting any allegations of violence to parents, compiling, implementing, and
socializing standard operating procedures related to acts of violence, establishing prevention
cooperation with psychological institutions, religious organizations, and educational experts,
form a special team to prevent acts of violence and to establish a service board for complaints
of acts of violence within the schools.
Furthermore, initiatives to create a supportive school climate include any action that
can reduce academic stress among students, particularly primary and secondary school
students. Since the implementation of Full-Day School for secondary education in 2017, the
number of school hours per day in Indonesia has increased. Monday through Friday, students
typically attend school from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. During that time, schools typically provide two
breaks during the school day: one short break at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m., and a one-hour break in
the middle of the day (12 p.m.). This means that the daily school hours are set up in such a
way that students spend more time at school. However, this daily school hours system
appears to place a greater emphasis on academic activities while undermining extracurricular
activities. Therefore, the government should consider reducing daily school hours from 8 to 6
hours per day and moving the start time of school from 7 a.m. to later (e.g. 8 a.m.). Students
may experience less academic fatigue as a result of this. Schools should be encouraged to
provide several short breaks in each class, such as a 15-minute or 30-minute break, at the end
of each subject's session or in the middle of the session. This allows both students and
teachers to unwind for a short period of time during or before the next session.

Alternative Solution 3: Optimizing the supporting systems of students’ development

According to Gupta et. al. (2022), people quality drivers such as teacher and student
quality make the greatest contribution to education quality. It means that the quality of human
capital in educational institutions (teachers and students) significantly contribute to overall
educational quality. With the Indonesian government's vision of developing high quality and
competitive human capitals, teachers should be prioritized alongside students in educational
reform initiatives. Moreover, the holistic approach that is expected to be implemented in the
education system necessitates teachers not relying on their subject expertise but rather
guiding students in critical thinking (Hale, 2010). Teachers are also expected to build a good
relationship with the students, as it plays a crucial role in the quality of teaching and learning
thus impacting the quality of education (Gupta et. al., 2022). As a result, to implement the
holistic concept within the curriculum, it is critical to improve the quality of teachers and
equip them with the necessary tools.
In improving the teaching quality, it is critical to establish skill-building programs for
teachers that are relevant to their needs in order to assist them in adjusting to the new
curriculum. Given that the proposed curriculum reform will include learning materials for
21st century skills for Industry 4.0, as well as the need for the curriculum to teach students
how to think critically and equip them with a basic understanding of current technology, it is
critical to provide them with new, modern teaching tools. The government must also upgrade
and improve the teachers' training program, as well as assist teachers in working on their
areas of improvement (Gupta et. al., 2021). It is because students need to be protected from
the risk of less competent teachers entering the education system (Sukmayadi et. al., 2020). It
may not produce extremely positive results for teachers because it may be difficult for them
to learn the most recent technologies, particularly for Generation X teachers. However, it has
the potential to produce positive results in the long term, especially when every school has to
cope with massive digitalization of learning. In implementing those initiatives, schools and
governments can to collaborate with NGOs and educational technology enterprises to
improve teaching quality.
To maintain teachers' performance in implementing reform-based curriculum
initiatives and proposed curriculum updates, the government should also revamp or redesign
the teacher performance management system within schools. Regardless of whether schools
are running a teacher performance management system, the MoEC should provide schools
with useful guidelines to help them understand the key aspects that should be evaluated and
the boundaries that should be observed to avoid bias in evaluation. Several tools, such as the
KPI system and 360-degree feedback, can be used to obtain more relevant feedback on
teachers' performance. The KPI system can be streamlined with learning objectives and
student achievements, while 360-degree feedback is used to gather feedback from teaching
initiative stakeholders, particularly students. Teachers' evaluations should not only focus on
academic abilities and mastery of learning materials, but also on the teacher's mental
attributes, to measure teachers' competency in delivering learning materials and teaching
useful things to their students. Regarding teachers' mental attributes, it is important for
teachers to be mentally and emotionally stable, able to anticipate several possibilities related
to their interactions with students, able to compose themselves if the class becomes noisy,
determined to do their best to deliver learning materials to the students, creative in delivering
learning materials, able to stay concentrated enough to anticipate properly to make a good
decision in teaching, and able to stay focused enough to make a good decision in teaching.

Analysis of Options
Those recommended three alternative solutions for the inclusion of holistic education
concept in Indonesian education system are basically talks about developing a more holistic
educational climate, building a supportive school environment for students, and optimizing
the supportive systems that can help students development. Based on the explanation of each
alternative solution, it has the potential to complement the existing initiatives of educational
reform (the Merdeka Belajar policy), which can help the Indonesian government to attain its
vision to develop high quality and competitive human capitals. Furthermore, according to the
to the 2023 Indonesian Planned Budget of Revenue and Spending (Rencana Anggaran
Pendapatan dan Belanja Negara/RAPBN 2023), the Indonesian government has stated its
main educational targets for the year 2023. It is stated that one of them is improving the
distribution of educational quality through curriculum simplification and enhancement. As a
result, these proposed policies and the Indonesian government's initiative are complementary,
and they are also supported by the existing policies and regulations by the MoEC.
In general, the recommended alternative solutions are implementable. Aside from
being in line with the government's vision and existing educational reforms, policies, and
regulations, they will also be backed by a significant amount of government education
spending. According to the RAPBN 2023, education will receive 20% of national planned
budgeted spending in 2023. This means that the maximum annual budgeted cost structure for
implementing those recommended policies is IDR 608.3 trillion, or US$ 38.64 billion. As a
result of the aforementioned factors, the first and third alternative solutions are strongly
recommended. The need for full implementation of anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies
among schools, as mentioned in the second alternative solution, will be incorporated into the
recommended policies. It has the potential to be effective in terms of the need for school
daily hours and school start time adjustments. Students who start high school later have
distinct advantages. Teens who reported getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night were more
likely to report having good overall health and were less likely to report being depressed, as
well as having lower absenteeism and tardiness and higher test scores on national
achievement tests (Wahlstrom et. al., 2014). However, we decided that the recommendation
for school daily hours and school start time adjustments would be purely optional as it does
not have the same level of urgency as the other alternatives.

Recommendations
Based on our analysis of the alternative recommended solutions, we have decided to
focus on two alternative solutions that discuss developing a more holistic educational climate
for students and optimizing the supporting systems, such as teachers and schools, that can aid
in students' development. These policies will be accompanied by a push to encourage schools
to fully implement anti-bullying and anti-harassment mechanisms authorized by the MoEC
through its regulations. To ensure that these recommended policies are effectively
implemented, the Indonesian government, particularly the MoEC, cannot carry them out
alone. The policies should be well prepared and effectively socialized to all stakeholders, and
they may yield positive results in the medium or long term (3-5 years), while also requiring a
periodic evaluation every year or at the end of the implementation period. Collaboration
among stakeholders in the spirit of collective intelligence is strongly encouraged in order to
contribute to the constructive development of the Indonesian education system. As part of our
policy recommendations, we would like to suggest these possible collaborations between
stakeholders to ensure that the recommended policies are effectively implemented.
● In terms of curriculum revision and planning, the MoEC can work with local
governments (provinces, regencies, and cities) to track educational progress and
identify potential flaws in the current system. The findings are then reported to the
MoEC as an addition to the existing curriculum by the local governments. The MoEC
can collaborate with education experts to develop alternative options for addressing
curriculum flaws. After the updated curriculum is ready for implementation, the
MoEC can socialize it to key stakeholders (students and teachers) and other
stakeholders (school management and parents).
● School administration and teachers can plan some potential relevant activities for
students to learn from their surroundings and other environments when organizing
out-of-class activities. They can also work with communities to provide a new
learning experience for students so that they can learn something new.
● In terms of preserving students’ mental health and well-being, schools can work with
mental health non-profits or hire child psychologists in a part-time basis to
compensate for the shortage of counseling teachers.
● The government, particularly the MoEC, can work with schools, educational
non-profits, and educational technology companies to provide skill-building programs
and implement initiatives to improve teaching quality. Educational NGOs and EdTech
companies can provide useful and up-to-date inputs to supplement government
initiatives aimed at teachers.
● Concerning the revamp or redesign of the teacher performance management system,
the government should well-socialize it, collaborating with experts to be implemented
by schools, which can benefit the teachers.
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