Depok Faces Teacher Shortage Crisis in Public Schools

The Depok City Government is facing a serious challenge in the education sector, specifically a teacher crisis for public primary schools (SD) and junior high schools (SMP). This phenomenon is triggered by the high number of senior teachers entering retirement each year, while the recruitment of new teachers through the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) and Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK) pathways remains very limited.

Depok Mayor Supian Suri stated that the city is under the spotlight due to this issue. Besides the teacher shortage, the local government is also constrained by infrastructure problems. The Depok City Government is no longer massively constructing new public school buildings due to limited land availability and high construction costs in the area.

Land scarcity is the main obstacle to expanding public education facilities. Supian Suri explained that land prices in Depok, especially in strategic areas and the city centre, are now very high. This situation makes the construction of new public school buildings inefficient from a budgetary perspective, given the exorbitant cost of land acquisition in densely populated areas.

To ensure that citizens’ right to education is still fulfilled despite the limited capacity of public schools, the Depok City Government has taken a strategic step by partnering with the private sector. Through this synergy scheme, the government launched the Free Private School Pilot Programme (RSSG).

Under this programme, the Depok City Government allocates funds from the Regional Budget (APBD) to cover the education costs of underprivileged students attending private foundations. ‘So that children from underprivileged families who are not accommodated in public schools can still attend school free of charge, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Private School Foundations,’ said Supian Suri on Wednesday (15/7/2026).

For the 2026-2027 academic year, the Depok City Government has established cooperation with 52 private schools. This partnership is projected to accommodate up to 2,080 students who did not pass the selection process for public schools.

Supian Suri emphasised that this collaboration will continue to be developed to ensure equal access to education. The RSSG is considered the most effective solution to address the problem of dropouts (DO) or children leaving school due to zoning quota limitations. Through this commitment, the Depok City Government hopes that the synergy between the government and private foundations can become a model for resolving the education crisis in urban areas facing land and teacher shortages.