Samsudhuha Wildansyah, Jakarta – Indonesian military (TNI) chief General Gatot Nurmantyo and Education and Culture Minister (Mendikbud) Muhadjir Effendy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Expanding and Improving the Quality of Education and Culture Services.

The TNI will be involved in the Ministry of Education and Culture's (Kemendikbud) Educational Character Building (Penguatan Pendidikan Karakter, PPK) initiative, which will include a "Military into the Schools" (Tentara Masuk Sekolah) program.

The signing of the cooperation agreement was held in the Quiet Room at the TNI's headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Monday December 4. Effendy said that cooperation with the TNI has in fact being going on for some time and has been very good.

"We have evaluated the cooperation so far and now we are complementing it with various things, particularly in relation to the Kemendikbud program, namely the excellent Education Character Building program", said Effendy at the TNI headquarters.

Effendy continued by quoting the words of General Nurmantyo: outermost, backward and frontier areas will be prioritised. In addition to this, the Mendikbud has also asked the TNI to provide regular assistance in schools.

"We know that in almost every village there is a babinsa officer and every sub-district has a Koramil [sub-district military command], so there are personnel which we can use to carry out the Military into the Schools program. Soldiers will go into the schools and conduct various kinds of training activities in schools including extra-curricular activates such as drills and marching, flag raising teams and so forth", he said.

Effendy said that currently there are around 2,000 TNI personnel available to assist in the program, although he admitted that they have yet to process the data more fully. "So with this cooperation we can exchange data", he said.

General Nurmantyo meanwhile said that the TNI will only be assisting the Kemendikbud with this one program. It is hoped that with the involvement of TNI soldiers all of society will be able to enjoy an education in accordance with what has been underlined by the Mendikbud.

Nurmantyo explained that the number of soldiers that will be mobilised to assist the program will depend upon the Kemendikbud's needs. Nurmantyo however said that they would prioritise isolated areas.

"The (number of personnel) will depend on the need right. [As] I said earlier in isolated, frontier and outermost places. Now, these are the places that will be filled. I don't know [exactly] how many yet", he said. (idh/imk)

Notes

Babinsa or Bintara Pembina Desa, are non-commissioned military officers posted in villages and wards and affiliated with the civilian administration. These officers provide a community level presence for TNI's territorial command structure which mandates the deployment of military command posts and detachments at all levels of the civil administration: provincial, district, sub-district and village. This structure provides the organisational framework for the TNI to act as a political security force at all levels of society.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was "Panglima-Mendikbud Teken MoU, Bakal Ada 'Tentara Masuk Sekolah'".]

Source: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-3753614/panglima-mendikbud-teken-mou-bakal-ada-tentara-masuk-sekolah