Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is telling all kids across the archipelago to study hard as Indonesia celebrates National Children’s Day.

Jokowi headed to the easternmost province of Papua for the National Children’s Day on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after the celebrations, Jokowi said he had a message for all Indonesian children. According to Jokowi, it is important to nurture not only intelligence in children but also moral and ethical qualities.

“Moving forward, we need to really prepare our children so that they are not only smart and intelligent individuals. They should also become knowledgeable and people of character,” Jokowi told the press.

Jokowi ended the brief interview with a message for Indonesian children that is reminiscent of his “work, work, work” motto in his first speech as president back in 2014.

“Study, study, study,” Jokowi, who is set to retire this October, said.

Indonesia saw declining scores in the latest edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which assesses a country’s 15-year-olds’ scholastic performance in reading, mathematics, and science. 

In 2022, Indonesian students scored 359 in reading, down from 371 in the 2018 PISA. Indonesia’s average mathematics score dropped from 379 in 2018 to 366 in 2022. Indonesia also reported a decline in science performance as the average 15-year-olds scored 383 in 2022, down from 396 in 2018.

Indonesia’s PISA average performance is still far behind the economies belonging to the rich-country club Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Data showed that students in OECD countries scored an average of 472 points in mathematics. OECD’s average performance in reading and science stood at 476 and 485 points, respectively. 

Indonesia is home to 270.2 million people, according to the 2020 national census. About 10.88 percent of the population is classified as Post-Gen Z, namely people born in 2013 and beyond. This means that they should now be around 11 years old or younger.