Papua Senator Hopes Education Development in the Region Will Be More Progressive

The chairman of Commission III of the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI), Filep Wamafma, praised the Regional Consolidation (Konsolda) of Primary and Secondary Education for 2026 in West Papua Province and Southwest Papua Province. He said the agenda is very important to be carried out by the Education Quality Assurance Office (BPMP) of Southwest Papua Province in order to support efforts to improve the quality of human resources. Moreover, Filep said the forum is also a constructive space to build synergy and collaboration among various education stakeholders to achieve education development targets in the two regions.

‘Regional heads, including the Governors of West Papua and Southwest Papua along with all regional heads, have a responsibility and commitment to building education and realising the grand vision of Smart Papua. Therefore, collaboration among policy holders is crucial because our education issues are still very complex,’ Filep said in a written statement on Friday, 6 March 2026.

Currently, he said, the central government through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) also has a strong commitment to accelerating national education development. This includes the Indonesia Pintar (PIP) programme, the school revitalisation programme, the school digitalisation programme, and national evaluation mechanisms through the Academic Ability Test (TKA).

‘In this meeting, my hope is that all schools across the Land of Papua or at least in the 3T areas become a priority in education development. In this regard, active roles from all parties, especially the technical agencies, Provincial and Regional Education Offices must back up the heads of daerah (leaders) to prepare the data required by the Ministry to accelerate realisation,’ Filep said.

‘The school revitalisation programme is a very good programme and reduces the regional budget burden. Therefore, the regional government must be pro-active in this programme amid budget efficiency policies that also impact the education sector,’ the Senator from West Papua said.

Furthermore, Filep hopes regional governments can prioritise this revitalisation programme for interior schools, such as foundation- run schools that have served long in the Land of Papua.