For the past decade or so, the foray of the digital economy has hogged headlines around the world. Consumers and investors alike have been bowled over by the likes of Uber, Airbnb, WeWork and closer to home companies such as Gojek and Grab. These companies unleashed not just new business models, but altered consumer behavior in previously unimaginable ways. As underlying principles of the digital economy, commercially sharing and working gigs have become part of today’s world.
But a new paradigm shift is underway, fueled by the pandemic unleashed by Covid-19. Individuals, companies, industries and governments are waking up to the new reality of social distancing and work-from-home (WFH). Indeed, we may be seeing the start of another principle of the digital economy which is physical isolation sustained by on-going digital life. In times of crisis, people prefer to study, work and entertain themselves at home rather than venturing out. Call it the substituting the physical, another underlying principle of the digital economy.
According to research, the global pandemic is keeping well over a billion people inside their homes. This is impacting a range of industries, including the education sector as schools and universities remain shut and students are learning to learn online. Change is underway.
Online education and digitization of learning have leapfrogged 15 years in the first 15 weeks of 2020. Shared thinking by innovators and technologists has resulted in many new education startups that are emerging all over the globe as these companies rush in to fill an emerging need. But many of these ideas are coming up against entrenched, old-economy models and players who are hanging on to their increasingly untenable positions.
While the impact of Covid-19 on the education sector is clear, the outcome remains uncertain. What is certain is that technology and new behavior patterns will drive change in the sector and may totally revamp how education is consumed and delivered in the future.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo made an unprecedented move in October 2019 to shake up the country’s embattled education sector by appointing a digital tycoon as the new Minister of Education. Nadiem Makarim, the founder of Gojek, is the poster boy for Indonesia’s fast growing digital economy and it is hoped that he will be able to inject some much needed innovation and new ideas into the nation’s education sector.
It is not an easy task and the minister has already run up against vested interest groups within the sector. With 60 million students, 4 million teachers, and 565,000 schools, Indonesia has the largest education system in Southeast Asia and the 4th largest in the world after China, India and the United States.
Access to education therefore is not the key challenge. Indonesia has high literacy rates and 95% of Indonesians can read and write. Where Indonesia lags behind many of its compatriots is in developing graduates with the requisite technical / business skills and knowledge to fill future jobs, especially in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Indonesia may have a large labor pool but it has a very small talent pool. Increasing this talent pool is the biggest challenge facing the country’s education sector. Indonesian students score badly on PISA tests, especially in science and mathematics where it ranks among the lowest.
To some extent, the government is already throwing money at the problem, allocating 20.63% of its annual budget for education. This accounts for 3.58% of Indonesia’s US$1 trillion pre Covid-19 GDP.
Beyond hard cash, however, new ideas have to be injected to boosting education reach and performance. If Indonesia is to be economically competitive in the digital economy, it needs to raise the level and quality of its education product. Therein lies the challenge for the country’s education sector.
The Indonesia Education Forum, a multi-stakeholder platform that brings together more than 1,000 thought leaders and practitioners has over the past two years been conducting a series of workshops, opinion polls and roundtable discussions to unearth new ideas and thinking that can solve the key challenges facing the industry.
These ideas and a white paper on the future of the education sector are being presented to the Education Minister for his reference and inputs. Suffice to say, the calls for a radical rethink on how education is delivered and consumed in Indonesia going forward were loud and clear.
Firstly, technology will play an increasingly important role in delivering higher quality education. The Covid-19 pandemic has already pushed the acceleration of on-line learning as schools remain shuttered. We need to be a game changer by bringing gamification, digitization, virtual reality and other emerging technologies into the classroom. To support this, schools must introduce the smart classroom concept that can run blended learning platforms so that high quality and a standardized education program can reach into even the most remote regions of the archipelago.
But beyond just as a means of delivery, Indonesia must also revamp its curriculum to include technology into teaching material very early on. Future skills for youth will need to include technology literacy, early-stage STEM programs, and Artificial Intelligence. Also important is Entrepreneurship for Youth curriculum that is designed as early growth-mindset programs to help embed soft skills, business skills and financial skills into the young minds of future leaders.
This is where an Education Lab (EduLab) could be established by the Ministry of Education to identify the world’s top education products, programs and platforms and adapt them accordingly to meet Indonesia’s needs, as well as catalyse local technology, innovation and industry in that regard.
The EduLab can also play a role in developing and maintaining special partnerships with countries that have made significant progress in handling similar challenges and issues. The EduLab can also finds ways to help parents support the child’s education from a home environment.
Other important ideas worth exploring include improving teacher resources and training so as to raise technology competence amongst teachers and enable them to deliver lessons online. The majority of Indonesian teachers do not possess the technological skills to conduct online classes but as the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us, we all need to adapt and acquire new skills.
With these developments, Indonesia could create a whole new domestic sector to produce the devices and gadgets that will be needed in the classroom and at home. If every teacher and student is going to own such personal devices, we will need a homegrown industry to research, design, manufacture and service a wide variety of smart devices. Such an industry would pave the way for the country to transition from its heavy dependence on natural resources to boosting design and manufacturing.
The education sector and its ancillary services must be classified as a strategic industry and provided resources and fiscal incentives by the central government. Indonesia must move beyond just consuming education products and become a major developer and producer of such products based on its huge domestic sector. Such an industry will create millions of new well paying and productive jobs; boost R&D and help shape the future of the nation.
Similarly, the national telecommunication carriers will have an opportunity to put together affordable data packages for students so that they can afford to study online and where and at anytime.
To game change the education sector, a new collaborative approach between the government and the private sector will need to be forged. No one side can meet these challenges on its own and the Education Ministry risks trying to achieve these changes on its own.
The mid-19 century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard perhaps described the current challenges facing the Indonesian education sector best when he said: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” The full implications of the disruption will take years to sink in but what is imperative is to protect the gain made in education over the past decade and build on those gains.
Indonesia has been offered a unique opportunity to be a leader in this fast changing field. It must grab the opportunity this current pause offers to roll out far-reaching reform in curriculum, the way it is delivered and improving the quality of teachers that will deliver the material. Periods of deep human despair have delivered have sparked some of the greatest innovations of humankind. This gift of time for which Indonesia set itself up is its moment to seize and maximize its human capital to be a shining beacon in the digital economy.
About the Authors
Dr. Ilham A Habibie, Sachin V Gopalan, Shoeb Kagda & Nalin Kumar Singh are Co-Founders of the Indonesia Education Forum (IDEF), an independent platform that works with education stakeholders to help better understand the future of learning and how we can get there. IDEF is an initiative of The Indonesia Economic Forum, a thought leadership platform aimed at promoting economic and social progress in Indonesia.