Pemkab Tabalong holds National Education Day ceremony at the district level for 2023, combined with the 27th anniversary of Regional Autonomy Day on Tuesday, May 2nd, on the shining courtyard of Pendopo Bersinar Pembataan Tanjung. The ceremony was led by the Secretary of Tabalong Regency, Hj Hamida Munawarah, with Toni Marwan, the Head of Tabalong Education Office as the flag officer and Fida Aulia Rahman as the commander of the ceremony. The participants of the ceremony were government officials, employees, educators, and a number of students and university students.
The theme of National Education Day for 2023 is “Moving Together, Celebrate Independent Learning”, while the theme for the 27th anniversary of Regional Autonomy Day is “Advanced Regional Autonomy for Superior Indonesia.” The ceremony began with the reading of the Pancasila text by the flag officer, followed by the reading of the Opening Text of the 1945 Constitution by the employee of the Tabalong Education Office.
In her written speech, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, conveyed that over the last three years, a significant change has taken place around us, from west to east of Indonesia, where 24 episodes of Independent Learning have been launched, bringing us closer to the noble ideals of Ki Hadjar Dewantara, which are education that guides the talents, interests, and potential of students to achieve the highest level of safety and happiness as human beings and as members of society.
“Our children can now learn more calmly because their learning activities are assessed more holistically by their teachers. School principals and regional heads who used to have difficulty monitoring the quality of education can now use National Assessments data on the Education Report Platform to improve the quality of education services,” she added.
“Teachers are now competing to share and create with the presence of the Merdeka Mengajar Platform. In addition, teachers who used to be bound by various rigid regulations are now more free to innovate in the classroom with the presence of the Merdeka Curriculum,” she continued.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Home Affairs, in his written message, stated that the commemoration of regional autonomy day is meant to reflect the essence of the philosophy behind the establishment of regional autonomy, which is now 27 years old, with the aim of decentralizing some of the regional authorities, essentially to make regions achieve fiscal independence by tapping various potential resources that exist so that they can increase Local Revenue and drive the acceleration and equality of development.
After 27 years, regional autonomy has had a positive impact, which is evidenced by the acceleration of development marked by an increase in the Human Development Index (HDI), an increase in Local Revenue (PAD), and Regional Fiscal Capability. However, the goal of the philosophy of regional autonomy has not yet been fully achieved.
“Based on data from the Directorate General of Local Finance of the Ministry of Home Affairs during this period, there are several regions whose Local Revenue is below 20 percent and still heavily rely on the Central Government through the Regional Transfer Fund and Village Fund (TKDD). This is certainly ironic, considering that authority has been given to the regions, while their finances are still heavily dependent on the Central Government,” concludes Mendagri.
