Definition of Multicultural Education
Multicultural education initially viewed in the perspective of a process (a) recognize the political realities, social, economic and experienced individuals who are culturally different and in a complex human interactions, and (b) reflects the importance of attention to culture, race, sex and gender differences, ethnicity, religion, social status, and the economy in the process of education (Hernandez).

In another source said that at least a multicultural education can be seen from three sides, namely as an idea or concept, as an educational reform movement, and as a process. Multicultural education as an idea means that for all students – with no view of gender, social class, ethnic, racial, and cultural characteristics – must have the same opportunity to learn in school.
From this definition we realize that the diverse realities that exist in the context of schools and  need attention from teachers, because first, this condition has implications for the requirement that students must learn to communicate and interact with people different cultural backgrounds. In this context, multicultural education is a process that helps individuals develop ways of receiving, evaluating, and into a different cultural systems from which they have (Gibson, 1984). Second, this condition also requires consideration of the people who have a strong influence over schools, either directly or indirectly. These people include all elements of society that affect the priorities and direction of education in all countries and regions. Also include social and cultural elements that affect how teachers teach and what they teach, how students learn and what they learned
Bullivant (1993), mendefiniskan culture as a program group to defend themselves and adapt to their environment. Cultural programs (culture) include knowledge, concepts, and values propagated by members of the group through the communication system. Culture also includes the distribution of beliefs, symbols, and interpretation of human groups. Many social scientists today view culture primarily as a symbolic, ideational, and aspects that can not be touched in human life. So the essence of culture is not the artifacts, tools, or cultural elements that can be touched, but how the group members to interpret, use, and perceive things. Culture is a values, symbols, interpretations, and perceptions that distinguish one from the others in a modern society. This is not the material objects and aspects that can be touched in human life (Banks, 1994a; 1994b). people in the culture sutau usually meninterpretasi meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same way the same or similar.
In the Indonesian context, multicultural education becomes a necessity, because the socio-cultural conditions of the nation’s diverse premises. Indonesia is a vast country with a large population and with a very diverse culture. Around 222.7 million people spread over 6,000 islands. Indonesian territory consists of 33 provinces, 440 districts, 5263 sub-districts, and 62,806 villages. There are dozens of tribes with different customs, and more than 660 local languages used by residents of Indonesia. Some 293,419 units of education (SD / MI, SMP / MTs, SMA / MA) in Indonesia spread in various regions, a total of 51.3 million students and 3.31 million teachers.
Realized that to build a nation with diverse customs and cultures are spread over a vast territory and scattered, needed a strategy and a systematic effort to do so. To that end, the Government has set a goal of national education development medium term, which of them is learning to improve equal opportunities in all channels, type, and levels of education for all citizens in a fair, non-discriminatory, and democratic regardless of residence, socio-economic status , sex, religion, ethnic group, and the physical, emotional, mental and intellectual; reduce significantly the number of illiterate people; expand access to non-formal education for the population of men and women who have school, never went to school, illiteracy, broken schools within and between levels as well as other residents who want to improve the knowledge, abilities, and skills;
In addition, equity and expanding access to education efforts aimed at expanding capacity and education units provide equal opportunity for all students from a variety of different social groups both in social, economic, gender, location of residence and level of intellectual ability and physical condition . This policy is intended to increase the capacity of Indonesian population to lifelong learning in order to increase the competitiveness of nations in the global era.
To optimize the process and achieving the expected results, developed various strategies by taking into account technological developments. One of the chosen strategy is to take advantage of information and communication technology as a means of distance learning (distance learning), especially in universities, formal education and non-formal education. Information and communication technology will be utilized optimally in its function as a medium for distance learning, and also to facilitate the education management.
To support the government efforts of innovative learning systems have been developed as a form of application of the concept of educational technology, such as civil SD, SD Small, Junior Open, the Open University and Distance Learning System (SBJJ). This is because in general, educational technology has the potential to implement a broader education, especially with the use of mass media, by the presentation of information that can penetrate geographical boundaries, reducing the gap between learning inside and outside of school, allowing children develop according to the characteristics and pattern of life.
In addition, educational technology was developed based on a number of assumptions, including “education can take place effectively both in homogeneous groups, heterogeneous, and individuals (individualized)”, and “learning can be obtained from anyone and anything, whether deliberate designed and the diambilmanfaatnya “. This shows that if a person has consciousness, and interest to learn, he can take lessons from anyone, not just from parents and teachers, but also from peers, community leaders, and other community members.
From the above description it appears that educational technology can be a means to promote multicultural education process that took place in Indonesia. Technology education with a variety of innovations will be able to serve the education for all (education for all), without being distracted by differences in cultural background of Indonesian society is very diverse.