Cabinet Secretary: 16,000 schools to be renovated in 2025, budget of Rp17 trillion
Jakarta – The Cabinet Secretary, Teddy Indra Wijaya, has announced that approximately 16,000 schools have been renovated throughout 2025 with a total budget of around Rp17 trillion, managed by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
“In 2025 alone, approximately 16,000 schools have been renovated. The data exists, photographs exist, you can verify. With a total budget of around 17 trillion, administered by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education,” said Teddy at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta on Friday.
He explained that the renovation was undertaken to address school deterioration problems that have persisted for a long time. Although school management authority rests with regional governments, the central government has intervened to accelerate improvements during President Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
“High schools fall under the governor’s authority, primary and junior secondary schools fall under the regent and mayor’s authority. However, during President Prabowo’s administration, because schools have been deteriorating and plagued with problems for a long time without resolution, we are undertaking renovations,” he said.
Beyond renovation, Teddy continued, the government is also continuing various education programmes already operational in the previous period. Programmes such as the Smart Indonesia Card and Indonesia Smart Programme remain active.
The government is also expanding the People’s School programme to reach children not in school, those who have dropped out, or those who have never received formal education. Over the past year, the programme has reached nearly 16,000 to 22,000 students across 166 schools, with plans announced for an additional 100 schools this year.
In digital learning, he stated, the government distributed 280,000 digital television units to 280,000 schools throughout 2025 and will increase this number in the coming year.
“Not to mention there will be Garuda schools, integrated schools, and the construction of new campuses that the President wants to establish, currently underway,” he said.
Regarding teacher welfare, the government has increased incentives for honorary teachers to Rp400,000, described by Teddy as the first increase in the past 20 years. Allowances for non-civil service teachers have also increased from Rp1.5 million to Rp2 million.
Additionally, the mechanism for distributing allowances, which previously involved transfers to regions every three months, has been changed to direct monthly disbursement to teachers in accordance with the President’s directive.
“I want to emphasise that no programme has been discontinued. All programmes are running and even expanded,” said the Cabinet Secretary.
Regarding concerns about education budget cuts resulting from the Free Nutritious Meal Programme, Teddy stated that the education budget was agreed upon between Parliament and the government in the previous year for use in 2026, including its allocation.
He stressed that no strategic education programme from the previous period has been discontinued and all remain operational.
“No strategic education programme from the previous period is not running now. No programme from the previous period has been stopped. Everything is running. Everything is running, and even expanded,” Teddy asserted.