Bandung. Indonesia, In a groundbreaking presentation at the 5th UiTM International Conference on Law & Society 2025 (UiTM i-CLaS 2025) on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, Prof. Dr. Cecep Darmawan, S.H., S.I.P., S.A.P., S.Pd., M.Si., M.H., CPM. unveiled an innovative approach to reforming Indonesia's fragmented educational legal framework through comprehensive codification.
The distinguished professor from the Law Studies Program at the Faculty of Social Science Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), delivered a compelling argument for overhauling the nation's educational legislation in his research titled "New Model for Formulating National Education System Laws Through Codification."
The Problem: A Fragmented Legal Landscape
Indonesia's current educational legal framework faces a critical challenge that has long plagued policymakers and educators alike. The existing Law No. 20 of 2003 on the National Education System (Sisdiknas Law), while foundational, suffers from significant disharmony and inconsistency with numerous other educational regulations scattered across the legal spectrum.
"The fragmentation of our educational laws has created a complex web of overlapping and sometimes contradictory provisions," Prof. Darmawan explained during his presentation to an international audience of legal experts and education professionals. This legal maze includes separate laws governing higher education, teacher certification, Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), and various other educational aspects – each operating in relative isolation from one another.
The Solution: A Codified Legal Framework
Prof. Darmawan's research proposes a revolutionary solution: the codification of Indonesia's National Education System Laws into a single, comprehensive legal framework. This ambitious approach would integrate disparate educational regulations – including the Higher Education Law, the Teacher and Lecturer Law, and the Islamic Boarding School Law – into one cohesive system.
The proposed codification model offers several transformative benefits:
- Enhanced Legal Certainty: By consolidating various educational provisions into a unified framework, the model eliminates contradictions and provides clearer guidance for all stakeholders in the education sector.
- Improved Coherence: The integrated approach ensures that different aspects of education policy work harmoniously toward common national objectives, rather than operating in silos.
- Simplified Regulatory Environment: Stakeholders – from school administrators to policymakers – would benefit from having a single, comprehensive reference point for educational governance.
- Better Policy Implementation: With clearer, more consistent regulations, the effectiveness of educational policy implementation across Indonesia's diverse archipelago would significantly improve.
Prof. Darmawan's presentation at the prestigious UiTM i-CLaS 2025 conference highlights the international relevance of Indonesia's educational legal reform efforts. The conference, which brings together leading legal scholars and practitioners from across the globe, provides a platform for sharing innovative approaches to legal and social challenges.
The research contributes to the broader academic discourse on legal harmonization and educational governance, offering insights that may prove valuable for other nations grappling with similar challenges of legal fragmentation in their educational systems.
Looking Forward: Implementation Challenges and Opportunities
While Prof. Darmawan's codification model presents a compelling vision for educational legal reform, its implementation would require significant political will and coordinated effort across multiple government agencies and stakeholders. The process would involve extensive consultation with educational institutions, legal experts, and civil society organizations to ensure that the unified framework serves Indonesia's diverse educational landscape effectively.
The professor's work represents a crucial step toward addressing one of Indonesia's most pressing educational governance challenges. As the nation continues to strive for educational excellence and equity, the proposed codification model offers a pathway toward a more integrated, systematic, and effective legal foundation for national education development.
This research not only contributes to Indonesian educational policy but also adds to the global conversation about legal harmonization and educational governance, demonstrating how academic scholarship can provide practical solutions to complex societal challenges.