Teddy Highlights Continued Presence of Out-of-School Children in Central Jakarta

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya has highlighted the presence of children not attending school in Jakarta. He pointed out this ironic situation because there are still children who do not pursue education even in the government centre area.

Teddy gave an example, stating that he encountered children not attending school in the Pejompongan area, Central Jakarta. In fact, Teddy said, there is a 12-year-old child who has never attended school at all.

“About 5 kilometres from the centre of Indonesia, there are still Indonesian children who drop out of school, or have never even been to school,” said Teddy in a written statement on Thursday, 23 April 2026.

Teddy stated that this problem has existed for a long time. Therefore, he conveyed that President Prabowo Subianto wants the government to resolve the issue of children not attending school gradually and periodically, but as quickly as possible.

Teddy remarked that children not attending school also have their own dreams. “We are reminded that every child has dreams worth fighting for. The President’s wish is that all Indonesian children must be able to attend school and receive a decent education,” he said.

Teddy explained that one of Prabowo’s programmes in the education sector is the sekolah rakyat. He described this programme as the way the Prabowo-era government ensures students’ basic needs, from housing, nutrition, health, to education.

President Prabowo targets the construction of 500 sekolah rakyat by the end of his term in 2029. In January 2026, Prabowo inaugurated 166 sekolah rakyat spread across 34 provinces and 131 regencies/cities.

“Our target is 500 sekolah rakyat by 2029. Insya Allah, it will be achieved,” said Prabowo at the Sekolah Rakyat Terintegrasi (SRT) 9 in Banjarbaru City, South Kalimantan, quoted from the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube broadcast.

From the total target of 500 schools, the Head of State aims for each school to accommodate 1,000 students. To date, he said, the total number of sekolah rakyat students reaches 15,000 pupils. “I received a report that perhaps by the end of this year it will reach 30,000. But ultimately, our target is 1,000 pupils per sekolah rakyat campus. That means our target is 500,000 pupils,” said Prabowo.

The first phase of sekolah rakyat construction covers 166 units. Hundreds of these dormitory-concept schools began operating gradually from July to early October 2025.