The minister made the statement at a meeting with Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the Parliamentary Complex, Jakarta, on Wednesday.
He explained that mathematics education at the kindergarten level is part of the programs to strengthen education, literacy, numeracy, and science and technology, which includes mathematics, science, and technology education from an early age.
Mu'ti further affirmed that his ministry had conducted a trial on how to teach mathematics to kindergarten students during his first working visit to Palembang, South Sumatra.
He noted that the trial at that time was conducted at one of the kindergartens managed by the Indonesian Air Force.
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Earlier, on Monday (October 28), Mu'ti, who was recently inaugurated as minister on October 21, vowed to work ceaselessly to ensure that Indonesia catches up on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) score gap.
This is pursued by increasing students' interest in science and technology learning, especially in numeracy.
According to the PISA 2022 results, Indonesia's average results in mathematics, reading, and science were down from 2018. In addition, students in Indonesia scored lower than the OECD average in those three areas.
He assessed that the numeracy skills of Indonesian people from students to adults are still relatively low and quite a few even consider mathematics lessons as a bugbear.
"To this end, we are seeking to make mathematics learning fun and can be taught easily," he remarked.
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Translator: Hana Dewi, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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