VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Director of Policy and Advocacy of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Stephen Wyber and Head of the National Library of Indonesia, Muhammad Syarif Bando meeting in Jakarta - 

Director of Policy and Advocacy of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Stephen Wyber, stated that to build an inclusive future in the digital era and prepare human resources to face global competition, the education sector must be addressed as a whole. At this time, he stressed, the most important thing is to provide opportunities for the community to learn what they need with a caring approach.

This was conveyed by Stephen Wyber in the webinar Urban-20 (U20) Side Event with the theme Enabling Cities, Caring Cities which was held in a hybrid manner by the National Library of Indonesia (NLI), Tuesday (30/8/2022). IFLA is an international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users.

Furthermore, Stephen reminded not only to fixate on formal education. According to him, education should be extended to libraries and adult learning institutions. Both are infrastructures that care about the welfare and future of the people in every city in the world.

"What is expected from the end of today's activity is that we get some key messages and good ideas about how we can carry out the role of libraries and adult learning institutions to become a key part of the agenda of the government of the Republic of Indonesia based on the G20 Presidency event," he hoped.

According to a release received by Voice fo Indonesia on Tuesday, the head of the National Library of Indonesia, Muhammad Syarif Bando, stated that based on records from Bappenas and BPS, most Indonesians are involved as heads of families with a general education certificate. Therefore, the community needs to be educated through non-formal education.

He also invites all levels of society to change the paradigm of libraries in the world so that they can be transformed and their presence is felt by the community. He hoped that the library would no longer be a symbol. 

“Our mission is to convince anyone that he can change with a book that is relevant to his economic choice. Because the role of helping marginalized communities with applied science books is very important,” he explained when giving his speech.

Meanwhile, the President of the South Asia Pacific Association of Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), Nani Zulminarni, said that actually there are six situations in which a person can be excluded from the process of lifelong education and learning.

The six situations consist of gender and age, disability and diffability, social status, location, methodology and approach, as well as topic and focus. According to him, these six situations are in line with the remarks from the Head of the National Library of Indonesia. For this reason, the library paradigm must change so that it is better able to answer the needs of the community.

“Librarians must be able to support the learning process through books, stories, data, information in the library, as well as research results to become a source of educational learning for a more inclusive society. The phrase 'education is not limited to school' must be interpreted as a lifelong learning process," concluded Nani.

The U20 Side Event is part of the 2022 U20 Summit. The U20 Summit will be held this year in Jakarta, as part of Indonesia's G20 Presidency//VOI