TY - JOUR ID - discovery10128997 N1 - License Copyright (c) 2021 Dorothy Ferary Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JF - Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education EP - 78 AV - public IS - 2 N2 - This comparative education articleexplores the purpose of educationinthe Indonesiancontext. My aim is tosee if there areany differencesbetween the purpose of education during the colonial era and present-day Indonesia.In order to do that, I draw mostly on the philosophyof Ki Hadjar Dewantara, who isregarded as the father of Indonesianeducation. This article is particularly relevant because the Indonesian government has recently started tocritically re-examinetwoof the educationalconceptsproposed byDewantara, which are"pendidikan karakter"(character education) and "merdeka belajar"(independentlearning). In conceptualisingeducation, Dewantara,who wasinfluenced by Tagore, Montessori, andFröbel,sawthe importance of imparting local wisdom and valuesignored by thecolonial schools.Therefore, in this article, I will compare his educationalviewswith the Dutchview of schooling during the colonial era. I will then look at Indonesia's current approach to educationtofindthesimilarities and differences of purpose relative to Dewantara's viewsof education. In this article, I argue that Dewantara's philosophyisstill very much relevanttoday. Iconclude that the Indonesian governmentshould refer back to its history when defining education for its next generation. VL - 5 Y1 - 2021/05/31/ A1 - Ferary, D SP - 65 UR - https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.4156 TI - On Ki Hadjar Dewantara's philosophy of education KW - Indonesia KW - Ki Hadjar Dewantara KW - Philosophy of Education ER -