MPR Deputy Speaker Urges Data-Driven Student Admission System to Tackle Under-Subscribed State Primary Schools
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR RI), Lestari Moerdijat, has urged the government to implement a data-based new student admissions system (SPMB) to address the large number of state primary schools (SDN) with few applicants.
In a statement issued in Jakarta on Tuesday, Lestari said the admissions system needed to be improved based on up-to-date data analysis of school capacity, demographic conditions and community preferences in each region.
“The data has spoken. Now is the time for real action. Fix the new student admissions system starting from the root of the problem so that every Indonesian child gets access to fair and quality education,” she said.
Lestari cited data from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education showing that the number of primary school pupils fell from 27.58 million in the 2011/2012 academic year to around 23.9 million in 2024.
At the same time, the number of primary schools rose from 61,566 in 2003 to 72,470 in 2024.
According to her, this imbalance shows the need to plan the school network more carefully and on a data-driven basis, so that the development of educational facilities aligns with demographic conditions.
For example, in Ngawi Regency, East Java, some state primary schools received no applicants for the 2026/2027 academic year, while in Malang City 62 state primary schools have not met their quotas, with around 2,285 seats still vacant.
Lestari also highlighted a shift in public preference. Over the past decade, the number of state primary school pupils has continued to decline, while enrolment in private primary schools has increased, meaning state schools need to improve the quality of their educational services.
She also urged central and regional governments to strengthen coordination and draw up an education roadmap based on population data so that school planning policies are better targeted.