Teacher Weeps at Nadiem's Trial, Shares How His School Became Outstanding After Receiving Chromebooks

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The principal of a vocational high school in Sorong City, Southwest Papua, Arby W Manangsa, wept while serving as a character witness for former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Makarim at the trial for alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

Arby’s tears flowed as he recounted how his school had rapidly developed after receiving Chromebook laptops from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology under Nadiem’s leadership.

Initially, one of Nadiem’s legal representatives asked Arby about the use of Chromebooks, which were said to assist teachers in instructing their students.

“I actually almost couldn’t bear to answer this question. Because if Your Honours search on Google, in Sorong City there is one school that was the most backward. People used to call that school a ‘dumping ground’ school,” Arby stated during the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (21/4/2026).

“I was a teacher there; it’s called SMP Nusantara. Everyone judged it as a dumping ground school. Why a dumping ground? It’s a place to accommodate children who had dropped out of school, naughty children from other schools,” he said.

Arby noted that the label persisted for quite some time but began to change after the school became one of the recipients of Chromebooks.

Arby explained that his school developed rapidly following the education digitalisation programme.

Now, the nickname ‘dumping ground school’ is no longer associated with SMP Nusantara Sorong.

“And today, that school has become a favourite school, a school of choice. One of the impacts is digital transformation,” Arby shared.

In addition to receiving Chromebooks, this digitalisation programme also taught a more varied teaching and learning process.

“Even some children were able to go to school abroad, to Vietnam, and develop extraordinarily because of the more varied teaching and learning process using technology, including Chromebooks,” Arby added.

In front of Nadiem, Arby expressed his gratitude because the digitalisation programme had changed the fate of his students.