Indonesia Mengajar: A Program for Social Justice in Education

Social justice for the whole people of Indonesia. This is the fifth principle of our ideology, Pancasila. This principle is symbolized by the image of rice paddy and cotton which means that every single person shares the same happiness which emphasizes an egalitarian relationship for majority and minority groups. This idea was basically from our founding father, the first president – Soekarno. He encouraged Indonesian people to have equality in many aspects such as education. Since the very beginning of our nation’s independence, the principle of social justice in education was elaborated in the constitution, Undang-Undang Dasar (UUD) 1945. For example, UUD 1945 article 30 emphasizes a national education system in which “Each citizen has the right to an education”. Unfortunately, this principle remains distant, since the right to education is only for those who afford to buy it, while the others, who cannot afford it, can only peek in and see the class interactions from outside the windows, like the main character in the movie “Denias”. This is symbolic of many other Deniases in remote areas spreading from Sabang to Merauke who have a passion for studying and are intelligent but cannot afford these opportunities. Do they deserve an inferior education? Do only Javanese people merit a good education? No.