Government Ensures Schools Remain Face-to-Face Amid Global Crisis
Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Pratikno has urged that the teaching and learning process must continue optimally amid the current global crisis situation. Pratikno assured that schools must continue to operate face-to-face as usual.
Pratikno reiterated President Prabowo Subianto’s instructions at the Full Cabinet Meeting at the State Palace on Friday, 13 March 2026. He stated that Prabowo emphasised that the global crisis should instead be used as a momentum to accelerate the national transformation agenda.
According to him, in addition to food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency, significant attention is also directed towards improving the quality of Indonesian human resources, particularly in the fields of health and education.
“Specifically in the field of education, following coordination with the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology and the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Menko PMK conveyed the importance of ensuring that the student learning process continues as usual. That in the education sector, the learning process must be even more optimal and learning loss must not occur. Therefore, face-to-face learning implementation is prioritised for students. Similarly, essential medical services must operate fully normally,” said Pratikno as stated on the official Kemenko PMK website, viewed by detikcom, Tuesday (24/3/2026).
He admitted that there had actually been discussions about the possibility of using a hybrid method combining face-to-face and online learning. However, he said, considering the importance of maintaining the quality of student education, cross-ministry discussions concluded that online learning for students is not a current urgency.
“As per the extraordinary priority of the President to the education sector, starting from school revitalisation, Sekolah Rakyat, and Sekolah Unggul Garuda, we must accelerate the improvement of overall education quality, both under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. This is a priority. This is paramount,” he stated.
As part of government transformation, the Menko PMK has instructed to accelerate the transformation of the Electronic-Based Government System, improve bureaucratic performance, enhance public services, and efficiency in all sectors. Non-essential official travel must be cut, meetings and gatherings optimised online, and the measured implementation of FWA (flexible working arrangement) as part of a more effective and efficient work transformation.
“Public services, improvement of human resource quality, and supporting the acceleration of equitable development must continue to be strengthened through smarter and more efficient methods,” he concluded.