Mataram Education Chief Responds to Policy on Students Repeating a Year

Mataram Education Agency chief Yusuf has responded to proposals to introduce a policy allowing students to repeat a year. He said the option of keeping pupils back has long been provided for, but that he was waiting for the latest regulations from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen).

“We are waiting for the official regulation from Kemendikdasmen. Once it takes the form of a ministerial decision, we can implement it. At the moment, it is only the minister’s proposal,” Yusuf said in an interview on Monday (12 October 2026).

According to Yusuf, rules on students repeating a year are not new in education. He said the policy has been implemented through evaluation and decisions by teachers’ councils at individual schools.

“It is decided at a teachers’ council meeting when students move up a year: whether a child advances or not. The minister is simply emphasising that children should not keep advancing automatically. The whole process has to be followed,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf also stressed the importance of rigorous assessment at school level, particularly for pupils who have yet to acquire basic reading and writing skills.

“Should a child who cannot read or write be moved up a year? That is the issue,” he said.

“If a child has not met the requirements, there is a first remedial session, then a second and a third. Only after that is it decided whether they advance. The process remains the responsibility of the school,” he added.

Earlier, Toni Toharudin, head of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s Agency for Primary and Secondary Education Policy (BKPDM), said the ministry was drafting measures to strengthen the policy mechanism. Discussions and preparations are expected to be completed in 2027.

“The mechanism is currently being developed,” Toni said on Friday (9 October), as quoted by detikEdu.

He added that the ministry was continuing to consult stakeholders and take into account the readiness of schools, teachers, pupils and parents.

Toni said the proposal to strengthen the rules on promotion was initially recommended by the National Education Council. The government already has a mechanism for deciding whether students advance, he said, and it remains in force.

“We should clarify that a mechanism for deciding whether students advance or repeat a year already exists and remains in effect,” he said.