Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Encourages Students to Cycle to School to Save Energy

Minister of Basic and Secondary Education (Mendikdasmen) Abdul Mu’ti is encouraging students to cycle to school as a healthy lifestyle choice, while also saving energy. He conveyed this during the inauguration of SMA Saintek Ahmad Dahlan in Salatiga, as well as the revitalisation of 17 educational units across the city. “We are currently in the process of following up on the President’s directives regarding ASRI schools—safe, healthy, clean, and beautiful,” he said in Salatiga, Central Java, on Monday, 13 April 2026. According to him, ASRI schools should start from a small scale by fostering students’ awareness to love the environment, save energy, and adopt healthy habits. “For that reason, earlier we launched the cycling to school movement here in Salatiga. Then, in Semarang Regency, we also distributed bicycles to children,” he said. He stated that the cycling to school movement and bicycle distribution aim to accustom students to commuting by “gowes” (cycling). “This also serves as a call to parents to allow our mature children the opportunity to go to school on their own, without being driven,” he said. Moreover, he noted that parents driving children to school in cars contributes to traffic jams and high air pollution in Indonesia. “Therefore, if children can cycle to school, and we build facilities to ensure they can do so safely, I think that could become a movement and a culture,” he said. Furthermore, Mendikdasmen hopes that the newly inaugurated SMA Saintek Ahmad Dahlan in Salatiga will not need to use air conditioning (AC) to be more environmentally friendly. Meanwhile, the Principal of SMA Saintek Ahmad Dahlan Salatiga, Sutomo, is ready to implement Mendikdasmen’s call to habituate students to cycling to school. “We will also follow the government’s programme on how to make children live healthily, so cycling will be started here, and Insha Allah, the principal is ready to start using a bicycle,” he said.