UNAIR NEWS – Not only pursuing academic value in the college, Universitas Airlangga students were also required to hone softskill through participation in international academic forums. Muhammad Risyad Fahlefi, a Political Science student at Faculty of Social and Political Science (FISIP) recently attended a conference entitled 4 th International Conference on Education held in Bangkok, Thailand, 5-7 April.
In the event organized by The International Institute of Knowledge Management (ITIKM), Risyad presented his idea titled “Development for Regional Based Curriculum to Optimize Student Potential of Indonesia”. His paper presented the idea of curriculum development based on the multicultural condition of Indonesian society, namely the curriculum policy based on regional education.
“Indonesian government has changed education curriculum 11 times. It signifies that Indonesia is still difficult to find the appropriate education curriculum formula due to the diverse background conditions and the needs of students, “said Risyad on about the background of his paper.
Regional curriculum
The regional curriculum proposed by Risyad is acknowledged to have a number of benefits. First, The Backgrounds . The existence of different backgrounds and needs by students in Indonesia demand the government to be able to adjust the curriculum policy of education to the existing condition. His idea can be an alternative to solve the problem.
Secondly, Risyad continued, the condition of the multicultural Indonesian community could lead to social disintegration. Education can be a form of preventive action for the threat of nation’s disintegration.
“The curriculum based on regional education raised as a solution can create a multicultural awareness,” explained the student who is active in BEM FISIP organization, Political Science Student Association, and BSO SKI FISIP.
Thirdly, contextual learning. Risyad cited the opinion of experts that good education is education that does not separate the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions of the surroundings. Thus, he continued, students can understand while maintaining and doing self exploration.
While in Bangkok, Risyad has gained a lot of experience. He met participants from diverse backgrounds, academics, policy makers, practitioners, and students like himself.
The conference was participated by no less than 34 countries, such as Indonesia, The UK, The USA, The Philippines, Belgium, Singapore, Australia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, Lithuania, South Africa, China, Russia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Switzerland, India, Nigeria, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, Taiwan, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait.
“This conference gives me experience to speak at international forum and also more knowledge to conduct better research,” said Risyad.
Previously, the 4th semester student born in Surabaya, August 4, 1997 has ever attended an international event in February 2018 in a leadership training activity held at University of Malaya-Wales. However, in a conference, this Bangkok conference was the first for him. (*)
Author: Binti Q. Masruroh
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
