Koja Residents Protest Zoning System in Jakarta's New Student Admissions

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Residents of Koja, North Jakarta, are protesting the zoning system implemented in the Jakarta New Student Admissions (SPMB) for the 2026/2027 academic year, after several children were not accepted at a school located directly next to their homes.

“I received reports from residents that some children were not accepted at SDN Tugu Utara 22 in Koja, North Jakarta, even though their houses are right next to the school,” said Nur Syamsu, Head of RW 014, Tugu Utara Urban Village, Koja District, North Jakarta, on Thursday.

He noted that, conversely, some children whose homes are far from the school were accepted. According to him, SDN Tugu Utara 22 is located within the RW 14 area and is adjacent to RTs 04, 05, 06, 07, and 08. In reality, only RT 07 was considered to fall within the priority zone.

Syamsu visited the selection site at SMPN 30 to question the system, which he described as peculiar. He cited cases where a child over seven and a half years old living near the school was rejected, while another from a different urban village farther away was accepted.

He urged the government to rectify the zoning system, which he deemed inappropriate, and to prioritise residents from the RTs directly adjacent to the school, such as RT 04, 05, 06, 07, and 08. “It is a pity for underprivileged residents if they are not accepted into state schools and have to enrol in private schools. This could lead to children not attending school or dropping out,” Syamsu said.

Meanwhile, Mulyadi, Head of the Primary School Section at the North Jakarta Administrative City Education Sub-department Region 2, explained that the SPMB for the 2026/2027 academic year has three stages: domicile level, RW level, and urban village level. For children who do not pass the first stage based on domicile, they can try again through the RW and urban village level stages. “Hopefully they can get in, but there will certainly be competition,” he said.

The DKI Jakarta New Student Admissions (SPMB) for the 2026/2027 academic year officially opened on Monday (15/6), based on Governor’s Decree Number 238 of 2026 concerning Technical Guidelines for New Student Admissions. The scope covers state education units at the PAUD, SD, SMP, SMA, SMK, SLB, and SKB levels, as well as private schools through the Joint SPMB and Free Private Schools programme. For the 2026/2027 academic year, the capacity of state schools is 228,163 new students, comprising 6,310 for PAUD, 95,965 for SD, 73,289 for SMP, 29,337 for SMA, 19,541 for SMK, 891 for SLB, and 2,830 for SKB.