JPPI Finds Alleged Report Card Grade Inflation in 2026 SPMB

The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) has recorded that alleged inflation of report card grades still coloured the implementation of the 2026 New Student Admission System (SPMB). The allegations were discovered through public reports submitted during the new student admission process. JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji stated that the achievement pathway was the route with the second highest number of complaints after the domicile pathway. Of the 301 reports received by JPPI, 69 reports, or approximately 22 per cent, were related to the achievement pathway. “In this pathway, we found complaints regarding the inconsistency of achievement assessment standards between regions, alleged inflation of report card grades, differing interpretations of academic and non-academic achievements, weak certificate verification, and suspected fabrication of achievement documents,” Ubaid said on Monday, 6 July 2026. According to Ubaid, these findings indicate that loopholes for manipulation still exist in the state school selection process. He assessed that the problem is not solely caused by weak supervision, but also because the student admission system still relies on competition for seats in schools perceived to be of high quality. “The data shows that almost all selection pathways still have loopholes for manipulation. The root of the problem is not just the cheating behaviour of parents or technical weaknesses in the application, but a new student admission system that is still built upon the scarcity of quality school seats,” he said. Besides the alleged report card grade inflation, JPPI also received 187 reports, or about 62 per cent, related to the domicile pathway. Complaints in this pathway were dominated by alleged address manipulation, fabrication of Family Cards, discrepancies in coordinate points, and the use of relatives’ addresses so that prospective students could be accepted at specific schools. Meanwhile, the affirmation pathway recorded 45 reports, or about 11 per cent, while the mutation pathway had 12 reports, or about 5 per cent. JPPI assesses that these various alleged irregularities were triggered by the limited capacity of state schools, which is not proportional to the number of prospective students. This condition makes the competition to enter state schools increasingly fierce, thus encouraging some parties to seek shortcuts. “The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and local governments are busy regulating selection pathways but forget to ensure that school seats are sufficient and quality is evenly distributed. As a result, parents and children are forced to fight over school benches,” Ubaid said. Therefore, JPPI is asking the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to evaluate the selection mechanism for the achievement pathway, including strengthening the verification system for report card grades and achievement documents so that opportunities for manipulation can be reduced. Tempo has attempted to seek confirmation from Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti and Deputy Minister Atip Latipulhayat regarding JPPI’s findings. However, as of the writing of this report, Mu’ti and Atip had not yet responded.