Education Reform: Prabowo Targets Improvement of 300,000 Schools by 2029

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - President Prabowo Subianto targets the improvement of 300,000 school units over the next five years as part of the national education reform. “In five years, I want to complete 300,000 schools,” said Prabowo during a discussion with journalists and experts, quoted from a release by the Indonesian Communication Agency (Bakom) RI, on Sunday (22/3/2026). Prabowo explained that the government is continuously carrying out gradual physical improvements to schools. In 2025, the government was only able to renovate around 17,000 schools. Meanwhile, in 2026, the target is increased to 70,000 schools, and in 2027, it is projected to reach 90,000 schools. This education reform programme encompasses enhancements to physical infrastructure as well as the digitalisation of learning to strengthen the quality of Indonesia’s human resources. To date, the government has distributed more than 288,000 units of interactive flat panel smartboards, including to underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions. To support these devices, they have been equipped with digital learning materials covering almost the entire syllabus. “In each of these interactives, there is software that we fill, almost all lesson syllabi are there. So after one class lesson, if the teacher wants to repeat it, it’s there,” he said. The head of state has also ordered the preparation of a centralised teaching system to address disparities in teacher quality across regions. Through this system, the best teachers can teach remotely for schools lacking educators, such as in mathematics or English. “Later, we will have a studio where the best teachers will teach in schools without mathematics teachers or English teachers; they can receive the lessons. And it’s interactive; we can monitor in the classroom,” he said. “This is a leap forward in human capital steps,” Prabowo emphasised.