Ki Hajar Dewantara’s life

Ki Hajar Dewantara was born from a Javanese nobility family (known as priyayi), and was able to
proclaim his general education by the Dutch East Indies in ELS (his primary school) and STOVIA (medical
school for natives). After his school life ended, he became a full-time journalist, writing newspapers.

During his life as a journalist, Dewantara started to be known by the social environment to
criticize the Dutch authority by collaboration within Boedi Oetomo as one of the most impactful
organizations in the archipelago, causing him to be arrested and exiled him to Netherlands. This action
enables him to learn more about the education thought around Netherlands, leading him to the
European Teachers Certificate as he intergrates the ideas of Montessori and Froebel. A few years after
the exilation, he came back to Jogjakarta (one of the well-known cities in the archipelago) to create a
school with his brother. Then, he manage to establish a school called Taman Siswa in 1922.

His idea to create Taman Siswa fixes a gap within the Dutch’s regulation about education as only
the Dutch community and the part of the nobility are able to learn general education, allowing civilians
with no opportunities in learning to build their spirit and respect on the nationality as well as creativity
for the country.

As time passed by, his legacy stands till this day as his legendary statement Tut Wuri Handayani,
exists as a motto of Indonesia’s Ministry of Education. His life marked the rise of education system in
Indonesia, leaving a chance for the next generation to respect and understand what had been done
greatfully by the ancestors in the past. Especially Ki Hajar Dewantara as the first human being to notice
the inequality of living in Indonesia and created an impact within Indonesia’s educational system.

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