JPPI: State Schools Can No Longer Simply Wait for Students

The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) has stated that the phenomenon of state schools lacking new students must serve as a wake-up call for local governments to immediately improve. JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji said state schools can no longer simply rely on their status as government schools and wait for students to register.

"This phenomenon is a loud alarm for local governments and state schools to immediately reform. State schools can no longer just wait for students. They must improve service quality, tidy up the school distribution map, and offer programmes relevant to the needs of today’s children so they are not increasingly abandoned," Ubaid said when contacted on Thursday (16/7).

Ubaid noted that many state schools are still trapped in the mindset of "we are a government school, students will surely come". As a result, he said, state schools are less active in promoting themselves or innovating in student activity programmes. "Meanwhile, private schools are aggressive in their marketing from the start of the academic year," he said.

At the primary level, Ubaid highlighted the proliferation of private schools such as private Madrasah Ibtidaiyah or suburban Islamic/Christian primary schools that offer highly competitive prices. Ubaid said these schools offer relatively affordable fees that are not much different from the "hidden" expenses at state schools, such as uniforms, books, or extracurricular activities. "Parents get much higher quality, longer study hours, more intensive religious/character facilities, and a monitored environment. At this point, rigid and barely free state primary schools automatically lose their bargaining power," he said.

The phenomenon of several state schools in Indonesia receiving very few new students has emerged at the start of the 2026/2027 academic year. At SD Negeri 1 Gedung Meneng in Rajabasa District, Bandar Lampung, only two new students were accepted for the 2026/2027 academic year. Despite only having two new first-grade students, the teachers remained enthusiastic in welcoming them during the student orientation period on the first day of school, Monday (13/7). In another region, only three students enrolled at SDN Purwoyoso 01 in Ngaliyan District, Semarang City, Central Java, for the new academic year. A similar phenomenon of schools lacking new students also occurred in Magelang, Central Java. The Head of Primary Education at the Magelang City Education and Culture Office, Sugiyarti, said there are at least 24 primary schools in the area where the number of study groups is less than 50 percent of the available quota.