Sekolah Garuda: A Hope for Bright, Underprivileged Children to Secure Their Future

The government is continuing to strengthen national education transformation through the launch of the Sekolah Garuda Programme, an elite boarding school that forms part of President Prabowo Subianto’s Program Hasil Terbaik Cepat (PHTC). This programme is designed to open access to quality education for high-achieving students from across Indonesia. Its primary focus is to cultivate top talent in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), ready to compete on the global stage and gain admission to the world’s best universities. Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Stella Christie, explained that Sekolah Garuda was born from the belief that the nation’s best talent is scattered throughout the archipelago, yet the opportunity to receive an elite education has not been enjoyed equally. “The President sees that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not everywhere. The government’s task is to create that opportunity,” Stella said at the Forum Merdeka Barat 9 (FMB9) themed ‘World-Class Senior High Schools for a Golden Indonesia 2045’. Stella stated that Indonesia already has several excellent schools that have successfully produced quality graduates. However, access to these schools remains relatively limited for students from underprivileged families. Based on this situation, the government is presenting Sekolah Garuda as an effort to ensure that economic background is no longer a barrier for high-achieving children to obtain the best education. “The target is the smartest and highest-achieving students, regardless of their background,” Stella said. In its implementation, Sekolah Garuda is being developed through two main schemes. The first is Sekolah Garuda Baru, which involves building elite schools from scratch in areas with limited access to quality education, including disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost regions. According to Stella, four new Sekolah Garuda schools located in East Belitung; South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara; South Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi; and Bulungan, North Kalimantan will begin operations on 20 July 2026. The second scheme is Sekolah Garuda Transformasi, which strengthens existing excellent senior high schools and Islamic senior high schools to reach world-class education standards through improved learning quality, student development, and strengthened school governance. Through this approach, the government seeks to accelerate the improvement of national education quality without always having to build new schools. “We are not replacing buildings and we are not replacing teachers. What we are improving is the system so that already good schools can become more optimal,” Stella explained. Stella further explained that the government has not forgotten to place teacher quality as the main foundation for Sekolah Garuda’s success. Therefore, the selection process for principals and teachers is carried out rigorously. The government is also preparing various incentives to attract the best educators to teach at Sekolah Garuda locations spread across various regions. In addition to providing special allowances, the government is preparing decent official housing for teachers and principals. This step is taken as a form of appreciation for the teaching profession as well as an effort to ensure the best education quality can reach the regions. “No matter how good the building is, a school will not succeed without quality teachers,” Stella stressed. On the same occasion, the Regent of South Konawe, Irham Kalenggo, assessed that the construction of the new Sekolah Garuda in his region is not only a strategic step to improve the quality of human resources but is also capable of providing an economic impact for the local community. According to Irham, the school construction process is progressing quite rapidly, involving around 1,500 workers, including local labourers. He is optimistic that all facilities can be completed soon according to the set target. “With the existing workforce, I am confident that construction can be finished in the next few weeks,” he said. More than just presenting a new elite school, Irham hopes that Sekolah Garuda can become a trigger for improving education quality in South Konawe. He acknowledged that the quality of education in several regions, including South Konawe, still lags behind other areas, especially Java. Therefore, the presence of Sekolah Garuda can encourage the regional government to start strengthening student development from the primary education level. “It cannot be denied that our education quality is still lagging. With the existence of Sekolah Garuda, I am actually inspired to prepare excellent schools from the elementary to high school levels,” he said. Meanwhile, the Head of SMA Unggul Garuda Bulungan, North Kalimantan, Adhi Sulandani Pangreksa, said that Sekolah Garuda still uses the national curriculum but is strengthened with various academic, leadership, and character development programmes. Through this approach, the government hopes to produce graduates who are not only capable of entering the world’s best universities but also have a strong commitment to return and contribute to Indonesia’s progress. “We will continue to innovate so that we can deliver Indonesia’s best students to the world’s top universities. This is a great ambition that is being realised,” he said. It should be noted that Sekolah Garuda is different from Sekolah Rakyat. Sekolah Rakyat is a government programme aimed at children from poor and vulnerable families in accessing education. Meanwhile, Sekolah Garuda focuses on preparing graduates with superior competencies and global competitiveness in science and technology, enabling them to continue their education at the world’s best universities.