Commission X of House of Representatives supports budget efficiency but urges exemption for education

Jakarta - The Vice Chair of Commission X of Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR RI), Lalu Hadrian Irfani, has endorsed the government’s plan to implement budget efficiency as a strategic measure to maintain the state budget deficit for 2026. However, he has urged that education funding should not be subject to cuts.

He stressed that education budgets must not become targets for reductions due to their direct impact on the quality of Indonesia’s human resources. According to him, education represents a long-term national investment.

“If education budgets are cut, the impacts will be directly felt in the learning process, ranging from limited facilities, reduced teacher competency development programmes, to disruption of various strategic education initiatives,” Lalu said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to him, the constitutional mandate regarding education budget allocation is an important matter. He believes that every fiscal policy must continue to support improvements in the quality of national education.

As a commitment to oversight, he has assured that Commission X of the House of Representatives will soon conduct intensive discussions with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek).

According to him, the House of Representatives will discuss and thoroughly review the budget efficiency plan whilst ensuring that the education sector is not significantly impacted.

“Commission X will explore this efficiency plan together with our partners. We wish to ensure that efficiency policies do not compromise the quality of education and continue to guarantee the sustainability of various education programmes,” he explained.

Nevertheless, he did not dismiss the notion that budget efficiency efforts represent an appropriate and rational step to maintain state fiscal stability. He emphasised that the government must take anticipatory measures to ensure that fiscal space remains protected, so that various national priority programmes can continue to operate sustainably.

“In situations of global economic pressure such as the current climate, budget efficiency becomes an unavoidable step. This is important for maintaining fiscal health and ensuring that the state budget deficit remains under control,” he said.