Keynote Speech on Heritage Education in Primary Schools in Indonesia
by Masanori Nagaoka, programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO Office, Jakarta
Government of the Special Territory of Yogyakarta
Bapak Suyanto, Director General for the Directorate General of Primary and Secondary Education, Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia
Ibu Diah Harianti, Head of the Center for Curriculum of the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia
Head of Office of National Education of the Special Territory of Yogyakarta
Bapak Setyanto P. Santosa, Chairman of the Indonesian Heritage Trust
Mr Richard Hermans, Head of the Netherland Institute for Heritage (Erfgoed Netherlands)
Ibu Catrini Kubontubuh, Executive Committee, International National Trust Organisation (INTO)
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Selamat Pagi,
I am pleased to join you this morning at the event of which will no doubt contributes to the successful implementation of World Heritage education in schools.
Firstly, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Indonesian Heritage Trust, the Netherland Institute for Heritage (Erfgoed Netherlands), the Centre for Curriculum of the Ministry of National Education, the Centre for Heritage Conservation of the Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering of University of Gadjah Mada, and International National Trust Organization for the successful implementation of the Heritage Education Programme implemented in 2008-2009 to promote and develop heritage education in Indonesia starting with primary school; to develop a pilot ‘toolkit for heritage education’ in Indonesia; and, to stimulate further exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of cultural heritage.
Heritage education is one of the commitments stipulated in the Article 27, Paragraph 1 of 1972 UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, that ‘the State Parties to this Convention shall endeavor by all appropriate means, and in particular by educational and information programmes, to strengthen appreciation and respect by their peoples of cultural and natural heritage.’
In addition, other UNESCO Culture Conventions confirm the necessity of giving priority to education, of taking account of cultural diversity, of recognizing intangible heritage.
For example, the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity states that ‘respect for diversity of cultures, tolerance, dialogue and cooperation, in a climate of mutual trust and understanding are the best guarantees of peace and security while ‘preserving cultural diversity as a living treasure guarantees the survival of humanity’. The Universal Declaration makes it clear that each individual must acknowledge not only otherness in all its forms but also the plurality of his or her own identity, within societies that are themselves plural. In this regard, we have been implementing a number of actions concerning heritage education, and allow me to share with you briefly of some of our
activities done recent years for your reference and for our future possible collaboration.
Our recent activity in the field of heritage education came just last December in the form of Peh Kayee, an illustrated children book, aimed at promoting the intangible cultural heritage in post-conflict/post-disaster situations of Aceh in Indonesia. Printed for 1000 copies in local language in close collaboration with the Aceh Cultural Institute, this book features a popular traditional game called peh kayee, which serves as reading supplement for elementary school students and story book to be introduced by teachers.
The book follows the serial publications made in the previous years as addition to a set of six illustrated children’s books, presenting the shared local legends, moral tales and simple collections of daily-life of the Acehnese people, aiming at not only preserving a rich oral stories and intangible cultural heritage which is on the verge of disappearance, but also acknowledging and respecting the indigenous folklore/tales rich in moral values and transmit them to the younger generations.
On another occasion, we organized together with the Indonesian World Heritage Youth Network (INDOWYN) and other partners, Youth World Heritage Campaign in May 2008 in five major cities such as Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Medan as well as at the Borobudur World Heritage site. This event involved youth in the 17 campaign points involving 17 universities, cultural officials and community representatives as well as media. At the end of the event, 14,125 youth handprints were collected to show commitment of the Indonesian youth to safeguard Borobudur Temple Compounds.
We also supported the Sacred Bridge Foundation on an event entitled GAUNG: 21st Century Global Music Education held in Bali in April-May, 2009, inviting participants from 8 countries such as Australia, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the US, in order to promote cultural dialogue through respective music. About 400 people gathered this event from children to the elders consisting of the village people, local government, artists, international and domestic tourists.
The introduced activities are some examples of UNESCO programme that gives young people a chance to voice their concerns and to become involved in the protection of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Let me also introduce to you, for your future possible reference, an initiative of UNESCO World Heritage Centre of an educational kit on the World Heritage programme entitled World Heritage in Young Hands, which is an educational resource kit for teachers containing an innovative concept to share knowledge about heritage conservation with young people.
This World Heritage Kit project is at a stage of evolutionary development with the content to be expanded for additional teaching ideas based on the experiences of teachers and students. The Kit is becoming more nationally and regionally focused, and more resource materials are being produced to complement the Kit, which we have now 30 national language versions and 1 regional adaptation (Pacific) produced in cooperation with National Commissions for UNESCO, UNESCO Field Offices and other partners.
Most importantly, the Kit promotes discussion and listening to others, resulting in re-affirmation of identity, while promoting mutual respect and respect for diversity. It serves as a valuable bridge for young people, teachers, heritage specialists and other stakeholders in a situation in which they learn together from each other, and which results in knowledge and appreciation for local and world heritage. This kit is downloadable from the website of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre if you are interested.
Please also be informed that we are open to encourage youth to work in the UNESCO Office in Jakarta as an intern to pursue these objectives with us and to give them working experience within UN system. It is our utmost pleasure to assist the today’s students in being tomorrow’s leaders to safeguard our common heritage, by working together practically in our office daily basis. Please visit our website for application if you are interested.
We have also committed ourselves to preserving and promoting cultural heritage together with international community. To this end and to start our joint programming, we have prepared a number of project proposals and would highly appreciate receiving any kind attention for possible future collaboration in this regard from international community.
Finally, we fully support the ongoing and future efforts of the Indonesian Heritage Trust in promoting heritage education together with the local, national and international partners. In this regard, it is our pleasure and honor to inform you today that we decided to assist them in printing of student’s heritage educational books and teacher’s module with our humble financial contribution. We sincerely hope that this important initiative is well acknowledged in particular by the Ministry of Education so that, the action is fully contributing to promote the Ministry’s current strategy for formal and non-formal education of official curriculum concerning “Education for All”.
We are looking forward to our collaboration in this field with you all to ensure safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage of humanity and their transmission onto our future generation.
Thank you for your attention.
*presented at the occasion of the International Seminar on Heritage Education in Primary Schools in Indonesia at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, 23 January 2010, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
