Minister of Social Affairs Reveals People's Schools Still Lack Teachers, More to Be Added Soon

Minister of Social Affairs (Mensos) Saifullah Yusuf has revealed that the Sekolah Rakyat (People’s Schools) programme still requires additional teaching staff. According to him, this represents a challenge for the newly established Sekolah Rakyat, which is only six months old.

Gus Ipul stated that Sekolah Rakyat is currently operating at 166 locations nationwide. In total, the schools have enrolled nearly 16,000 students.

“Despite the dynamics and challenges, there are still some shortages of educational personnel at several locations,” said Gus Ipul following a breaking-of-fast gathering at Sekolah Rakyat in ICE BSD, Tangerang Regency, Banten, on Friday (27 February 2026).

He stated that plans to increase teaching staff would be communicated with the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform (KemenPAN-RB). According to him, Sekolah Rakyat requires significantly more teachers.

“We are currently discussing this with our colleagues at the State Personnel Board (BKN) and we are also discussing it with the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform. So we will be adding more teachers,” he said.

Gus Ipul added that teachers at Sekolah Rakyat possess adequate capacity. According to him, Sekolah Rakyat students are different from those at other schools.

“I believe our teachers are still young, with an average age below 30 years, and they have adequate teaching abilities. They have also adapted over these past six months,” he said.

“To be frank, Sekolah Rakyat students are indeed special, as there are no academic entrance tests. What matters is that whoever meets the administrative requirements can enrol in Sekolah Rakyat,” he added.