Prabowo’s universal free education plan raises feasibility questions
Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara said there would be no additional allocation for free state schools, with the government instead reviewing how the existing education budget is distributed among the central and regional governments, ministries and agencies.
Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara announced there will be no extra funds for free state schools, instead focusing on redistributing the current education budget. Prabowo Subianto aims to make education free across more than 160,000 state schools of all levels, including waiving tuition fees at state universities. This proposal emerged after discussions with education, religious affairs, and coordinating human development ministers, following President Joko Widodo's directive to ensure all Indonesian children receive quality education.
Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu'ti detailed the funding strategy, which would utilize existing programs such as the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP) and the School Operational Assistance (BOS) fund. With 162,934 state schools enrolling approximately 31.8 million students, the plan seeks to cover all expenses from kindergarten to high school, as well as state Islamic schools and universities.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
