Preparing youth for Indonesia 4.0: challenges and prospects

The introductory chapter recognises firstly the prevalence and uses of the “Indonesia 4.0” discourse in directing attention to whether and how youths in Indonesia are both benefiting and underserved educationally. This chapter frames the studies in the book from a macro perspective of the education system, as contributing to conversations on a range of issues toward preparing Indonesian youth for the envisioned present and future pertaining to: educational participation, quality, and equity; teaching and learning; and youth’s skills and employment. The book highlights cases that emphasise, critique, and delineate progresses, as well as new and persisting challenges. This chapter proposes ways the empirical studies contribute with insights to especially three aspects of the education system: teachers and teaching; programs and curricular offering in education especially at the secondary and tertiary levels; and the social and cultural contexts of education implicating youth’s encounters with schooling and educational experiences. This chapter foregrounds that the case studies bring into their analyses how larger social forces and phenomena—for example, political and education decentralisation, internal rural-urban and transnational migration, and the global feminist and women’s movement—shape and interact with visions of preparing all Indonesian youth for meaningful participation in the society.