Education Minister Reveals Reasons for Cancelling Online Schooling Amid Energy Efficiency Discussions

JAKARTA - The Minister of Basic and Secondary Education (Mendikdasmen), Abdul Mu’ti, has revealed the reasons why online learning activities for school students have been cancelled.

Mu’ti stated that learning in schools must continue as usual to strengthen character education and for academic reasons.

“In line with the results of the cross-ministerial meeting and the press statement by the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture on 23 March, learning in schools will be conducted as usual, considering academic factors and the strengthening of character education,” Mu’ti told Kompas.com on Wednesday (25/3/2026).

It is known that the proposal for school learning activities to resume online starting April 2026 has been definitively cancelled.

The plan had previously emerged as part of the government’s energy efficiency policy or strategy currently under review.

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Pratikno conveyed that President Prabowo places great emphasis on improving the quality of human resources (HR), particularly in the education and health sectors.

He affirmed that the policy of online learning is not an urgent need at this time.

“In the education sector, the learning process must be increasingly optimal and learning loss must not occur. Therefore, face-to-face learning for students is prioritised,” said Pratikno on Tuesday (24/3/2026), quoted from his official statement.