A State Primary School in Banyumas Welcomes Only Three New Students

The first day of the new school year at SD Negeri 8 Kranji, Purwokerto Timur District, Banyumas Regency, Central Java, was quiet on Monday (13/7) as the school welcomed only three first-grade pupils. One parent, Nur, remained steadfast in enrolling her daughter Nala at SDN 8 Kranji, saying she was not troubled by the very small intake and hoped her child could still learn comfortably. “Because only three children enrolled here,” Nur said while accompanying her daughter to school. The low number of new pupils has drawn attention, given that SDN 8 Kranji actually has the capacity for up to 28 students in one study group. By the end of the New Student Admission Selection (SPMB), only three seats were filled, leaving 25 vacant. Head of SDN 8 Kranji, Nur Laila, said that during the initial online SPMB phase, the school received only one applicant. This prompted the Banyumas Regency Government to grant permission for schools with low enrolment to reopen registration offline. “At the start of online registration, only one student signed up. Following the Bupati’s directive, we opened offline registration to make it easier for the community to enrol,” she said. After offline registration opened, the total number of students rose to seven. However, only three were new first-grade pupils, while the other four were transfer students entering second grade. According to Nur Laila, the low number of applicants was influenced by several factors. Besides the first-time implementation of online SPMB for primary schools, public outreach was not optimal, leaving many parents unaware of the registration mechanism. Additionally, the school’s location off the main road and the presence of several other primary schools in the Kranji area gave the community more options. In the previous academic year, when the entire admissions process was conducted offline, SDN 8 Kranji managed to accept 22 new students. The school currently has a total of 75 pupils. “For a small school like ours, the offline system is more suitable. Going forward, we will be more active in using social media and conducting outreach to neighbourhood units and community associations so that the public knows about our school,” Nur said. Despite having only three new students, the school assured that the quality of education services would remain unchanged. “Regardless of the number of students, we provide the same learning,” she stressed. Meanwhile, Secretary of the Banyumas Education Office, Wahyu Adhi Fibrianto, said schools that have not met their quotas are allowed to open offline registration after obtaining permission from the Bupati, in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. He said the policy was taken so that prospective students who register offline can still start school on the first day together with other pupils. He revealed that by the initial SPMB closing date, eight state junior high schools and 61 state primary schools in Banyumas had not yet met their new student intake quotas. “The real numbers will be visible today as reports are still coming in. There are indeed some schools that only got three students, or even fewer than five,” he said. Wahyu stressed that the shortage of new students would not hinder the learning process. As long as the number of students does not exceed the maximum limit for one study group, teaching and learning activities can proceed as normal. He also urged the community who have not yet secured a school place to utilise the seats still available in a number of state schools, including SDN 8 Kranji, which still has 25 vacant seats for first-grade students.