JPPI: 2026 New Student Admissions Still Fail to Guarantee Children's Right to Education

Indonesia's new student admission system for 2026 is failing to guarantee the right to education, according to the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI). The organization argues that the Sistem Penerimaan Murid Baru (SPMB) functions as a selection process for limited school spots, rather than an instrument to fulfill the right to education for all children.

"SPMB is not a test to determine who is worthy of education. The function of SPMB should be to ensure all children get a quality school seat, not to be a selection tool that produces children who pass and children who fail," stated Ubaid Matraji, National Coordinator of JPPI, on Monday, July 6, 2026.

JPPI's assessment highlights that the SPMB system is further complicated by varying regulations across different regions. This leads to differing interpretations of regulations, policy changes mid-selection, and unclear information that confuses the public. Based on monitoring and complaints received during SPMB 2026, JPPI documented 301 alleged issues across various admission pathways.

The domicile pathway received the most reports, with 187 complaints (62%), including alleged address manipulation, forged family cards, and the use of relatives' addresses to secure spots in specific schools. The achievement pathway followed with 69 reports (22%), citing inflated report card scores, weak verification of achievement certificates, and differing assessment standards between regions. The affirmative pathway had 33 reports (11%), and the transfer pathway had 12 reports (5%).

Ubaid suggested that the prevalence of alleged irregularities points to a root problem: the limited capacity of quality schools. "The rarer the quality school seats, the higher their transaction value. When official doors are made complicated and narrow, back doors will emerge through gratuities, 'favored' students, seat trading, and various forms of manipulation," he explained. JPPI also noted ongoing allegations of gratuities, illegal levies, and the trading of school seats, practices that they argue rob children of their right to fair education. For instance, in South Tangerang City, only about 9,000 spots are available in public junior high schools for approximately 25,000 elementary school graduates, leaving over 16,000 children to seek private schools or risk not continuing their education due to costs. JPPI urges the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to shift the SPMB paradigm from a selection mechanism to a system that guarantees every child access to education.