Indonesia’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education on Friday launched a trilateral partnership with Canada’s McGill University and the United Arab Emirates to boost teacher quality, school systems, and education diplomacy through a five-year program.
Backed by a transformative grant from the UAE’s Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation to McGill, the initiative aims to accelerate professional development for educators and expand access to inclusive, high-quality education nationwide.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti said the collaboration is designed to strengthen teacher competence, leadership capacity, and education support systems, enabling sustainable and high-impact learning for more Indonesian students.
"This partnership mobilizes interdisciplinary expertise and scholarships to drive social change and address future needs in sustainability, engineering, health, and teacher education,” Mu’ti said in Jakarta.
The program, known as the UAE-Indonesia Future Leaders Program, is built on a memorandum of understanding signed between the ministry and McGill University on Dec. 1, 2025.
The agreement provides a framework for cooperation in leadership development, teacher training, curriculum design, assessment, learning innovation, research, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge exchange.
Mu’ti said the initiative emphasizes evidence-based and locally responsive professional development to strengthen literacy, numeracy, student well-being, and deeper learning across schools.
"Improving teacher quality and leadership is a long-term, high-impact investment and a key lever for sustainable education reform,” he said.
The five-year initiative includes McGill’s International Leadership in Education and Administrative Development program and targets teacher trainers, in-service teachers, principals, and education administrators.
The partnership is expected to enhance leadership capacity across classrooms, schools, and governance structures, while reinforcing Indonesia’s education diplomacy and global academic engagement.
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Translator: Hana Dewi Kinarina Kaban, Martha Herlinawati Siman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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