Education Agency Highlights Principal's Role After Vulgar MPLS Twibbon Incident at Denpasar Vocational School
The Bali Education, Youth and Sports Agency (Disdikpora) has highlighted the role of the headmaster of SMK PGRI 5 Denpasar after a school orientation (MPLS) twibbon featuring photos of several female students deemed vulgar went viral on social media. The agency assessed that the issue is the responsibility of the school management, particularly the headmaster.
“The point of reinforcement lies with the school management, with the head of the educational unit, the headmaster. The headmaster is the face of the school, with their quality and competence,” said Head of Disdikpora Bali, Ida Bagus Gde Wesnawa Punia, on Tuesday (14/7/2026).
According to Wesnawa, the approach to student development differs in every school. However, schools must still optimise character building for their students according to their respective conditions. “For example, in a PGRI unit or a private secondary school like this, it is absolutely necessary to intensify the optimisation of character building,” he explained.
Wesnawa stated that Disdikpora has patterns and data that can be used to assess various issues within educational units. This data forms the basis for policy formulation, including the use of the Academic Ability Test (TKA) in the student admission process. “The public can already see the patterned ecosystem of educational units. It is not that we are segregating or separating them. That is a market mechanism, so children with a fairly higher TKA standard join the same ecosystem,” he revealed.
He expressed regret over the MPLS twibbon upload. According to him, character building must be in line with the government’s efforts to realise the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision. “This pattern is aligned with our vision to create Superior Balinese Human Resources. It is imperative that I, as Head of the Agency, formulate strategic steps to accelerate the expected achievements,” he said.
Wesnawa also stressed that foundations have an important role in supervising the educational units under their auspices. He emphasised that there is no distinction between public and private schools.
Previously, the MPLS twibbon belonging to SMK PGRI 5 Denpasar came under scrutiny after photos of several new students were deemed not to reflect proper dress ethics, as they were considered too revealing. Head of SMK PGRI 5 Denpasar, Nuning Kurniawati, said the school had conducted an internal search and investigation. As a result, several female students have received guidance and were asked to change the photos used in the twibbon. “Indeed, there were some students who asked, ‘Why, is there a rule?’ Like that, ‘Is there a rule if I don’t change it?’ So indeed, we will summon them,” said Nuning when met at SMK PGRI 5 Denpasar on Monday (13/7/2026).