Tan Malaka’s contributions to Indonesia’s independence movement were both intellectual and practical and one of his most impactful initiatives was his work in education, particularly the establishment of Sekolah Rakyat.

He believed that the fight against colonialism could not succeed without the enlightenment of the people through education. In the early 1920s, while working as a teacher in Semarang, he saw that colonial education was designed mainly to produce clerks and subordinates who served Dutch interests.

He sought to create an alternative: a school system that taught not only literacy and numeracy but also national consciousness, critical thinking, and the dignity of self reliance.

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Malaka