Ki Hajar Dewantara
Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat (
EYD:
Suwardi Suryaningrat); from 1922 also known as
Ki Hadjar Dewantara (EYD:
Ki Hajar Dewantara), which is also written as
Ki Hajar Dewantoro to reflect its Javanese pronunciation (2 May 1889 in
Pakualaman – 26 April 1959 in
Yogyakarta), was a leading
Indonesian independence movement activist, writer, columnist, politician, and pioneer of education for
native Indonesians in
Dutch colonial times. He founded the
Taman Siswa school, an institution that provided education for indigenous commoners, which otherwise was limited to the Javanese
aristocracy and the
Dutch colonials.
He was honored as a
National Hero of Indonesia by Indonesia's first president,
Sukarno, on 28 November 1959.
Provided by Wikipedia