Indonesia Accelerates Digital Education Equity Through Smartboard Deployment and Teacher Training

The Indonesian government, under the direction of President Prabowo Subianto, is advancing a comprehensive digitalization of the nation's education system through the systematic deployment of Interactive Flat Panels, or smartboards, across educational institutions. This national undertaking is formally mandated by Presidential Instruction No. 7 of 2025, which outlines school revitalization, the establishment of model schools, and the acceleration of digital learning methodologies. The strategic objective is to utilize technology to narrow existing quality gaps, which historically concentrated superior learning outcomes in urban centers, such as on Java Island, as indicated by 2019 Asesmen Kompetensi Siswa Indonesia (AKSI) scores.

The rollout officially commenced on Monday, November 17, 2025, at State Middle School 4 in Bekasi, West Java, with the devices intended to facilitate real-time remote instruction and enhance collaborative classroom interaction. The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), led by Minister Abdul Mu'ti, confirmed the immediate goal is to install approximately 288,000 smartboards by the end of 2025, targeting one unit per school within the year. Logistical reports from mid-November 2025 indicate that over 215,572 units have been shipped, with 172,550 delivered and 43,022 currently in transit, supporting a larger 2026 target of deploying nearly one million panels nationwide.

Legislators, including Muhammad Hilman Mufidi of Commission X of the DPR RI, have emphasized that hardware provision alone is insufficient for success. The critical factor remains the professional competency of the teaching staff to integrate these digital tools effectively for pedagogical objectives, rather than for non-educational use. This concern is shared by Gogot Suharwoto, Director General of Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education at Kemendikdasmen, who stressed that digitalization is about optimizing technology use. To address this, Kemendikdasmen has implemented a multi-tiered training program involving in-person sessions, webinars, peer mentoring, and self-learning modules to ensure teacher adaptation.

President Prabowo has positioned this technological integration as fundamental to cultivating a generation proficient in science and technology, thereby bolstering national prosperity in the knowledge economy. The Ministry is actively reviewing and adapting digital learning materials, including animations, to ensure relevance across Indonesia's diverse regional contexts, a necessary step given the nation’s PISA ranking decline from 50th in 2006 to 71st in 2018. The deployment strategy is designed to ensure equitable access, connecting remote locations, such as schools on Pulau Sembilan in South Kalimantan requiring a ten-hour boat journey, often via satellite connections like Starlink, to match the access available in major urban areas. This comprehensive strategy, combining infrastructure with human resource development, is intended to overcome historical barriers, including the previous lack of internet or computer access for over half of Indonesian students.