Indonesia News: Indonesia’s Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said on 20 October in Bandung that the free Sekolah Rakyat boarding schools for the poorest families will get 500 permanent campuses within three to four years. The programme already teaches more than 44,000 children at 182 sites and pairs schooling with support for their parents.
Key facts
- The target is 500 permanent Sekolah Rakyat buildings, at least one per regency or city, with room for more than one million students.
- More than 44,000 students study at 182 locations; 93 of them already use permanent buildings.
- Admission is based on household income, mainly the poorest two deciles, with no academic entrance test.
- More than 7,000 parents have received home repairs and more than 160,000 families have joined ministry livelihood schemes.
What happened in Bandung?
Saifullah Yusuf, known as Gus Ipul, visited the SRT 4 school in Soreang, Bandung Regency, West Java, on Tuesday, 20 October. Students greeted him with a marching routine, a Sundanese dance, a pencak silat display and short speeches in English, Arabic and Mandarin. He then held a dialogue with pupils and with community facilitators of the Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH), the cash-transfer scheme whose field staff help identify eligible families.
The school model mixes education, rehabilitation and social support for families, the minister said, according to Kumparan. Each permanent campus is expected to hold more than 2,000 students across primary, junior and senior high levels, with laboratories, a library, a sports field and a learning management system.
Deputy Regent Ali Syakieb said the regency strongly supports the programme. The local link matters more than it sounds.
Why does land decide who gets a place?
Every new campus needs seven to eight hectares, and regional governments are expected to supply it. Gus Ipul explained that the land owner shapes admissions. On ministry land, children from anywhere in Indonesia can enrol. On regency land, only local residents qualify.
Simple arithmetic shows the scale: 500 campuses at seven to eight hectares each means 3,500 to 4,000 hectares of land. Bandung Regency has shown it can be done. In July, Regent Dadang Supriatna said a 7.6-hectare site in Lebakmuncang, Ciwidey, was ready for a school of about 2,000 students, with construction targeted for October 2026.
Our view: tying access to land donations rewards well-organised regencies and risks leaving poorer districts, the ones that need these schools most, at the back of the queue. A national fund to buy land in districts that cannot donate would close that gap.
How many Sekolah Rakyat students are there? The figures differ
Two official numbers appeared in ANTARA reports one day apart. On 19 October, Coordinating Minister Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar said nearly 15,000 students had enrolled since the launch. On 20 October, the Social Affairs Ministry put the total above 44,000.
The gap is probably one of cohorts. In June 2026 the ministry said it had allocated places for more than 15,000 students in the first year and would admit more than 32,000 in 2026. Added together, those intakes sit close to the newer figure. Neither ministry has reconciled the two statements publicly.
| Indicator | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| First-year places | More than 15,000 | Social Affairs Ministry, June 2026 |
| 2026 intake | More than 32,000 | Social Affairs Ministry, June 2026 |
| Students now enrolled | More than 44,000 at 182 sites | Social Affairs Ministry, 20 Oct 2026 |
| Laptops for classrooms | 15,000 delivered for 2025; about 30,000 planned for 2026 | Social Affairs Ministry, 20 Oct 2026 |
| Permanent campus target | 500 in three to four years | Social Affairs Ministry, 20 Oct 2026 |
Schooling plus family support
Many pupils have been out of school for two or three years, so each begins with a matriculation period of more than three months. Laptops stay in classrooms and may not be taken to dormitories. Parents are steered into ministry programmes offering training, small business capital and housing repairs. “When the students graduate, their parents are expected to become more self-reliant families,” Gus Ipul said.
Iskandar framed the aim on 19 October: “The Sekolah Rakyat program was fundamentally designed to reach the poor, particularly those beyond the reach of policies.”
The state budget carries most of the cost. When the scheme was announced in April 2025, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said participation from the public and business sector would be of great help, opening the door to corporate and community donors. For more on Indonesia’s economy, see our BRICS economy roundup and our earlier roundup on Indonesia’s fire fight.
FAQ
What is Sekolah Rakyat?
Sekolah Rakyat, or People’s School, is a free boarding school programme run by Indonesia’s Social Affairs Ministry for children from the poorest households, including dropouts. It is one of President Prabowo Subianto’s priority programmes.
Who can enrol?
Children from the lowest two income deciles, selected on socioeconomic criteria rather than an academic test. Where the campus sits on regency land, places go to local residents.
What happens after graduation?
Graduates can continue to university, enter Sekolah Garuda or train as skilled workers, according to the ministry.
Sources: ANTARA, 20 October; ANTARA, 19 October; Kumparan; Inilah Koran; ANTARA, June 2026; Jabarnews; ANTARA, April 2025.
