Hundreds of teachers gathered at the forum on education, “Nurturing School as a Pleasant Garden,” held in the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia building on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. The forum was organized by Global Peace Foundation-Indonesia (GPF) and supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Education Department of DKI Jakarta, and Fujitsu Indonesia.

Experts in the field such as Dr. Tony Devine, Vice President of Education, GPF; Mr. Ananto Kusuma Seta, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia; Mr. Haidar Bagir, Founder of Lazuardi Foundation, Mizan Group; Mr. Made Sudharma, Fujitsu Indonesia; and Ms. Markorijasti, Principal of High School 74 Jakarta participated as speakers at the forum.

The speakers emphasized the vital role education plays in propelling nations forward. In addition, the speakers drew consensus on the importance of developing character and creativity within a child and the need to incorporate this training in schools. Mr. Bagir speaking on this point said, “we cannot stop until we improve the quality of education in Indonesia.”

During a meeting after the forum, Dr. Devine explained how teaching character and creativity can be implemented in current educational school systems. “The Character and Creativity Initiative (CCI) is an initiative to encourage transformation in educational systems so education can be more relevant to the 21st century.”

CCI aims to make education more relevant in the 21st century by assisting in the integration character and creativity into all aspects of school culture, thus shifting the current focus from pure academics to the development of the whole person. Currently, GPF Indonesia has 12 official CCI demonstration schools endorsed by the Education Department of DKI Jakarta (SMAN 1, 31, 33, 42, 65, 70, 74, 75, 92, 111, and SMA Unggulan M.H. Thamrin).