Education Ministry Partners with Private Sector to Hold Artificial Intelligence Exhibition

Jakarta - The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) has partnered with Merkle Innovation to hold the Student Competency Competition (LKS) Artificial Intelligence Competition Exhibition (EKKA) as part of the 2026 National Science Olympiad (OSN) series. Head of the National Achievement Centre (Puspresnas) at Kemendikdasmen, Maria Veronica Irene, stated that the use of artificial intelligence is now unavoidable in daily life, so the ministry is striving to facilitate vocational (SMK) and senior high school (SMA) students who have interest, talent, and ability in utilising this field. “This year, the new thing we are doing is developing the LKS, with the hope that both students heading towards vocational tracks and SMA can truly apply and increasingly complement the need for resources capable of developing artificial intelligence,” Irene said during a webinar titled “Socialisation of the 2026 Secondary Education Level Artificial Intelligence Competition Exhibition” in Central Jakarta on Monday. She said Kemendikdasmen is trying to find talent, build communities, and simultaneously create an artificial intelligence ecosystem in Indonesia through this event. “We want to encourage students’ potential to shift from being users of technology, both hardware and artificial intelligence, to becoming creators,” she said. Technically, she explained that the registration schedule for LKS EKKA 2026 starts from 15-22 June via the registration portal https://daftarbpti.kemendikdasmen.go.id. After that, participants must submit their work from 22 June to 3 July, uploaded via the page https://forms.office.com/r/6phQnAceYA. At this stage, she continued, participants will submit a solution proposal of a maximum of 4 pages, a video pitch and demo lasting 2-5 minutes, and a functional application/prototype. The LKS EKKA 2026 final will be held offline from 29 July to 1 August in the North Jakarta area.