Universal Collaboration for Superior Indonesian Human Resources
Commemoration of National Education Day (Hardiknas) 2026, under the theme ‘Strengthening Holistic Participation to Realise Quality Education for All’, carries a fundamental message that education is a shared responsibility and a collaborative effort among all elements of the nation. Schools, universities, industry, central and local governments, communities, and families—all form part of an interconnected education ecosystem.
Without strong collaboration, it is difficult to deliver truly high-quality, inclusive, and relevant education. Education is also the foundation of civilization that determines the direction of the nation’s future amid a rapidly changing global landscape. This spirit also aligns with President Prabowo Subianto’s fourth Asta Cita, which places human resource development as a national priority.
Yet, this year’s Hardiknas comes in a different context. For the first time since the policy mandating 20% of the budget for education was implemented, there has been a major shift in the composition of the education-function budget. Part of it has been significantly allocated to support the operational costs of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program. This program should be regarded as a major national effort to strengthen the quality of the future generation through nutritional intervention. However, in the face of fiscal constraints, a crucial question arises: how to maintain a balance in the direction of education development so that the agenda to strengthen education quality proceeds in tandem with the nutrition super-priority agenda?
The education budget in the APBN 2026 reaches around Rp757–769 trillion, the largest in Indonesia’s history and in line with the constitutional mandate of 20% of the APBN. This is an important achievement worthy of praise. However, the structure of this year’s budget has undergone a significant change after the MBG program was included in the education function with an allocation of around Rp223.5 trillion. Meaning, almost 29% of the total education budget is absorbed to support the program. Moreover, when compared with central government expenditure on the education sector of Rp470.46 trillion, the MBG allocation accounts for about 47.5%.
By comparison, the combined allocation of the three main ministries that manage education — Kemenag, Kemendikdasmen, and Kemendiktisaintek — amounts to only 41% of central government education spending, still below that figure.
Another interesting fact: total education budget excluding MBG in 2026 is around Rp545 trillion, still slightly lower than the national education budget in 2020 of Rp547 trillion. In policy terms, with MBG absorbing such a share of the budget and with education spending having contracted over the past six years, this shows that the country is prioritising nutrition intervention as a primary driver of human development.
However, education is a process far broader than ensuring students are physically healthy. It also aims to develop intellectual capacity, character, integrity, creativity, and independence. Therefore, nutrition fulfillment programs should be positioned as enablers that support education, not replace fundamental educational needs. This is where the importance of policy balance arises. Because when fiscal space for education tightens, there is a risk of reduced support for essential aspects of education such as improving learning quality, teachers’ welfare, development of educational facilities, research and innovation, and strengthening competitiveness, including at the tertiary level.
Quality education requires a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. It requires competent and well-supported teachers, adaptive curricula, decent learning facilities, sufficient spaces for innovation, and support for students’ creativity. Therefore, the success of education development should be measured by more fundamental indicators such as increased access to education, reduced dropout rates, improved quality of learning, strengthened research and innovation capacity, and higher-quality graduates.
It is important to understand that the demographic dividend, which will peak before 2035, does not automatically translate into a gain. The demographic dividend will only become a strength if the productive-age population has adequate education quality and skills. Without that, the demographic dividend can instead become a social and economic burden. Therefore, the HRD agenda must not stop at health and nutrition; it must continue until a system of education that can produce superior and productive Indonesian human resources is realised.
The restructuring of the education budget also affects central-regional relations. Transfers of education funds to regions in 2026 fell significantly, from around Rp347 trillion in 2025 to around Rp264.62 trillion in 2026. Nominally, this is still lower than the 2016 regional education transfers of Rp266.63 trillion. Meanwhile, many regions still face serious challenges in ensuring equal access to education, teacher quality, limitations in school facilities, and high dropout rates in several areas. In a context of wide fiscal capacity disparities between regions, the reduced fiscal space for education risks affecting the quality of educational services, particularly in areas heavily dependent on central transfers.
For local governments, education funding has long been an important instrument for improving school facilities, supporting local education services, and addressing region-specific needs. Meanwhile, the central government argues that strengthening national programs like MBG is necessary to ensure more even basic service standards and faster impact.
Therefore, what is needed is not to pit these priorities against each other.