LPDP Chief Says Children of Officials Can Receive Scholarships, Provided...
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Acting Director General of the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP), Sudarto, stated that all layers of Indonesian society are entitled to receive scholarships from his institution, including the children of officials.
According to him, the main principle of LPDP is inclusivity and meritocracy, not family background. Furthermore, LPDP’s mandate is not just to finance individual education, but to produce superior talents who can significantly drive Indonesia’s economic growth.
“So, what Indonesia needs, so that the country can grow rapidly, is more than 1-2% of its workforce who can be disruptive innovators who can change the way we work and produce advanced Indonesian innovations,” said Sudarto in a media briefing, quoted on Thursday (February 26, 2026).
Therefore, Sudarto emphasized that scholarships are open to all citizens as long as they meet the criteria.
“All our children have the opportunity, we must compete, that’s why they are given the opportunity,” he said.
Sudarto also said that not all Indonesian children have equal opportunities from the start. Therefore, scholarships are designed to be inclusive for all levels of society, including children from Papua, 3T regions, and underprivileged families through an affirmative action scheme.
In the affirmative action scheme, a number of requirements are made more flexible. Such as English language skills, age, or GPA. This policy was taken with the consideration that access barriers do not always reflect intellectual capacity.
“For children from Papua in particular, from the 3T regions and underprivileged families, they do not need to meet the same requirements as the general public. Usually, they do not need English with a GPA that is far below what is expected, and their age may not need to be too young because we understand that not all Indonesian children have the same opportunities, even though they are very likely to be very intelligent, top of the top,” he said.
Based on LPDP data, the proportion of recipients from affirmative action regions has continued to increase in the last three years. In fact, internal policy stipulates that at least 30% of recipients come from affirmative action pathways.
It was mentioned that thousands of recipients come from 127 priority districts, underprivileged families, to native Papuan children.
“The accumulation is now up to 25% in the last 3 years, we have made a policy at LPDP that at least 30% is for the accumulation, because why? no one, this must be inclusive for all Indonesian children, top of the top,” he said.
On the other hand, LPDP also provides a partial scholarship scheme. In this scheme, recipients can contribute to paying for part of their education. For example, 50% is paid by the awardee and the other half by LPDP.
“Yes, we give the opportunity, there is what is called LPDP Partial, if you want to contribute 50%, we give the opportunity there, partial, there is a discussion between us,” he said.
(haa/haa)