SDN 1 Negari Klungkung Continues New Student Admissions Despite Regrouping Plan

SDN 1 Negari in Banjarangkan, Klungkung, Bali, is continuing with its Sistem Penerimaan Murid Baru (SPMB) for the 2026/2027 academic year, even though it is included in a school regrouping scheme. The school believes new student admissions must proceed until there is certainty from the government.

On Tuesday morning (23/6/2026), the school was quiet, with only one class teacher, Made Intan Pratiwi, present to handle the administrative files for a new head teacher. Amidst her paperwork, Intan explained that the SPMB process is ongoing until there is a firm decision on the planned merger with SDN 3 Negari. “Every year we receive students from TK Negeri 1 Negari, which shares a roof with this school. This academic year, we are likely to accept nine new students through the domicile pathway,” she said.

The low student population is the reason the Klungkung Education, Youth, and Sports Agency (Disdikbudpora) included SDN 1 Negari in the regrouping scheme. According to the general attendance board, the school currently has only 85 students, comprising 47 boys and 38 girls. Grade II has the most students with 18, while Grades I and III each have 12 students.

Intan stated that the school has not yet received official information regarding the merger with SDN 3 Negari, so the SPMB process continues as usual. “We are proceeding according to procedure. Until an official letter arrives, we will continue to serve new student registrations,” she asserted.

The proposal to merge SDN 1 Negari with SDN 3 Negari has faced opposition from residents. Their main concern is that students would have to cross the Bypass IB Mantra, a road prone to accidents. Negari Village Head I Gusti Ngurah Bagus Mahendra confirmed that he has proposed shifting the merger plan to the Disdikbudpora due to safety fears. “We know that road is a fast route, and there are many accidents on the bypass. We don’t want our children to be in danger because they have to cross that fast road every day. That is what we have proposed,” he explained.

Based on community input, the village has instead proposed merging SDN 1 Negari with SDN 2 Negari. The reasoning is that SDN 2 Negari is also planned to be merged with SDN 2 Banjarangkan, while SDN 3 Negari could remain independent because its land is already owned by the government. “SDN 1 Negari is still on customary village land. We also hope it does not end up outside the village. So the final proposal is for SDN 1 Negari to merge with SDN 2 Negari, and SDN 3 Negari to stand alone,” he stressed.

Previously, the Head of Klungkung’s Disdikbudpora, I Ketut Sujana, insisted that the regrouping would proceed according to the planned scheme. He said community objections would be addressed while the process continues. “Eighty per cent of this is already the overall process, including approval from the three centres of education. The remaining twenty per cent involves families and committees who feel it is not yet time to merge,” he explained.

Sujana noted that public disagreement cannot simply be overruled because education requires the three centres of education to move in harmony. “There is no winning or losing; this is a shared interest. Sectoral egos must be set aside,” he said. He explained that the regrouping aims to improve efficiency and quality. By merging schools, teachers from 14 under-enrolled primary schools can be redistributed to schools that lack teaching staff.

“Those who agree have given the green light, with the condition that we commit to fulfilling their requirements, such as providing public transport to shuttle students. We have agreed to that and communicated it with the leadership,” Sujana clarified. In Banjarangkan, six primary schools still object to the merger, while eight schools in Nusa Penida have given the green light. The agency will proceed with the willing schools first, while waiting for the others to continue the process.

The 14 schools slated for regrouping include SDN 3 Kutampi merging with SDN 5 Kutampi, SDN 2 Tanglad with SDN 1 Tanglad, SDN 2 Sekartaji with SDN 1 Sekartaji, and SDN 6 Ped with SDN 2 Ped in Nusa Penida. In Banjarangkan, the planned mergers are SDN 1 Negari with SDN 3 Negari, SDN 2 Negari with SDN 2 Banjarangkan, and SDN 2 Tihingan with SDN 3 Tihingan.