From Lamongan to Nabire: When the State Reaches the Classroom
On the grounds of SMP Negeri 1 Lamongan, that Friday morning, the East Java sun bathed the walls of a building that had just been revitalised. The paint on the walls was still fresh, the ceramic floors were clean, and among the crowd of students in white-and-blue uniforms, there was something more than a ceremony for a new building—a seed of hope being laid at its foundation.
Revitalisation of educational units is not a new programme. Yet this time, the government has positioned it as a core part of national policy, a priority programme tied directly to the President’s Asta Cita vision to forge an outstanding generation. Not merely a physical repair project, but a statement: the state is present, even in the most modest classroom.
In Lamongan Regency, 2025 has been a busy year for this effort. The revitalisation programme touches four levels at once: early childhood education (TK) and PAUD, 23 primary schools, and 20 junior high schools. Classrooms are rebuilt, libraries expanded, and other supporting facilities designed so that teaching and learning is no longer a rote ritual but a living space for dialogue.
Regent Yuhronur Efendi of Lamongan welcomed the programme with sincere appreciation. For him, acceptable physical buildings are a minimal prerequisite before discussing the quality of learning. He also mentioned a number of accompanying programmes that have been implemented in his region: the Perintis scholarship which has now reached almost eight thousand students, the Aksi Biru program for children forced to drop out of school, and the Gerakan Kesetaraan Belajar (Learning Equality Movement) which has penetrated to the remotest villages.
And the good news does not end there. Abdul Mu’ti added that Lamongan stands to receive an additional revitalisation programme in 2026, a signal that the momentum will not stop at a single inauguration.
Yet if Lamongan is the face of progress striding forward, Nabire is a mirror of the hard work that remains long and unfinished.
Far in Central Papua, behind mountains and rivers not always accessible by road, Nabire Regency harbours challenges far heavier. Regent Mesak Magai of Nabire spoke in a realist but not despairing tone. His priority is clear: to recruit Pegawai Pemerintah dengan Perjanjian Kerja, or PPPK, to strengthen the frontline of public services—teachers and health workers—in regions that the government itself labels as 3T areas: left behind, frontier, and outermost.
In 2024, 196 PPPK were officially appointed. That figure may seem small on paper, but in Nabire’s remote districts, each new teacher means tens of children who finally have someone to teach them to read.
The problem is not simply a shortage of personnel. Ironically, the irony often occurs here: in some urban primary schools, a single school can have up to around twenty teaching staff. In contrast, in the remote districts, one teacher has to wear many hats. Mesak Magai also urged the Education Office to promptly provide a complete list of teacher postings for evaluation and redistribution as the key, not mere addition.