Free Schooling up to Junior High Being Prepared in 2027 State Budget

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The working committee of the government and the House of Representatives’ Budget Agency has agreed to start accommodating the Constitutional Court ruling regarding the abolition of fees for primary and junior secondary education. Based on the agreement document for the 2027 Central Government Expenditure Working Committee, the budget prepared to make schooling free up to the junior secondary level will be accommodated in the Financial Note of the 2027 Draft State Budget. “Education must be inclusive in character; the teaching and learning process must not be hindered by economic limitations and the provision of facilities and infrastructure,” said Budget Agency Chairman Said Abdullah, who serves as the working committee coordinator, as quoted on Tuesday (30/6/2026). In the working committee agreement document, the central government’s education spending policy still guarantees the mandatory allocation of 20 percent of the state budget for education, as formulated by the government and to be delivered in the 2027 Draft State Budget Financial Note on 16 August 2026. Furthermore, there is an agreement to implement Constitutional Court Decision Number 3/PUU-XXII/2024 in stages by strengthening the scheme to free basic education fees for students at SD/MI, SMP/MTs, or equivalent levels. This free schooling up to junior secondary level applies to both public and private schools, taking into account the principles of fairness, quality of education services, and national and regional fiscal sustainability. In the document, the working committee also directed ministries and agencies to begin studying the extension of compulsory education from nine years to 13 years. This step aims to improve the quality of the national workforce, 52 percent of which is currently dominated by those with only primary and junior secondary education. In general, the government and the DPR have also agreed on a series of education programmes included in the education cluster of the 2027 National Priority Work Programme, including: Free Nutritious Meals for Schoolchildren, Revitalisation of School/Madrasah Facilities and Infrastructure, School Equipment Assistance, Integrated National Schools, Teacher Studios, Education Digitalisation, New Sekolah Garuda and Sekolah Garuda Transformation, Sekolah Rakyat, New Universities: STEMM-based Medical University, 500,000 Vocational High School Graduates Go Global, National Sports Academy and National Training Centre, Improving Teacher Welfare through Direct Allowance Transfers, Child Protection in the Digital Space through the TUNAS Government Regulation, fulfilment of the 20 percent education budget allocation in accordance with the Fourth Amendment to the 1945 Constitution Article 31 paragraph (4), and the gradual, selective, and affirmative fulfilment of basic education rights.