Coordinating Minister Pratikno: Face-to-Face Learning for Students Prioritised

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Pratikno has stated that teaching and learning activities will continue to be prioritised in person or face-to-face. According to him, the face-to-face learning process must be optimised despite the global crisis situation. “We must not allow learning loss to occur. Therefore, the implementation of the learning process for students must be prioritised to continue face-to-face,” Pratikno said in a written statement on Tuesday, 24 March 2026.

He mentioned that there had indeed been cross-ministerial discussions on implementing a hybrid learning method, a combination of face-to-face and online.

The issue of online learning arose following President Prabowo Subianto’s cabinet meeting at the State Palace on Friday, 13 March. In that meeting, the President encouraged measures to save fuel oil consumption due to the global geopolitical situation.

Prabowo also considered a work-from-home (WFH) policy as an anticipatory step against the impact of the global crisis. Last week, the issue of online learning emerged in the Technical Coordination Meeting on Fuel Oil Saving Policies.

However, the issue was not realised after Pratikno held a coordination meeting with the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education and the Minister of Religious Affairs. Pratikno said that the quality of student education remains important to maintain, so the discourse on online learning was deemed not urgent at this time.

Moreover, he said, President Prabowo has asked that the improvement of Indonesian human resources, particularly in education and health, be truly addressed. “In line with the President’s priority on the education sector, we must accelerate the improvement of overall education quality,” said the former Rector of Gadjah Mada University.

In addition, Pratikno called for accelerating the transformation of an electronic-based government system. This includes improving bureaucracy, enhancing public services, and efficiency efforts in various fields. To support energy savings and transformation acceleration, he stated that non-essential official travel needs to be cut, including optimising meetings and sessions that can be held online.

In a separate occasion, Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti assured that there is no plan for online learning for students as part of the energy-saving policy. According to Mu’ti, the regulation is not applied to the education sector.

“Learning will continue as usual,” Mu’ti said when contacted on Tuesday, 24 March 2026. He emphasised that the learning process for primary to secondary school students will proceed normally, namely face-to-face for five days a week.