TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Schools minister in hot water for reviving study pathways
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti visits elementary school SD Aisyiyah Mulida in Kudus, Central Java, on March 20, 2025. (Antara/Yusuf Nugroho)
E
lementary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti’s plan to reinstate the science, social studies and language study pathways in senior high school have drawn criticism from students and teachers, particularly because of a lack of apparent evaluation of the existing system introduced by the previous government.
Former education minister Nadiem Makarim, through his trademark Merdeka Curriculum, introduced a policy to remove the traditional academic tracks– widely seen as outdated and discriminatory. In their place, students were allowed to choose individual subjects based on their personal interests and career aspirations.
The policy was first launched in 2021, expanded to 50 percent of senior high schools the following year and fully implemented nationwide in the 2024/2025 academic year. It was largely praised for eliminating the perceived hierarchy between science, social studies and language students, with the former often portrayed as smarter.
Schools Minister Mu’ti, however, plans to revive the study pathways in the next academic year, arguing that the system had long been a part of the country’s high school curriculum. The revival of the old academic system is also geared toward better preparing students for the upcoming academic ability test, or TKA – Mu’ti’s other new policy to replace Nadiem’s national assessment, or AN.
While the AN measures school performance by testing a sample of students from each school in literacy and numerical competence, the TKA will measure students’ ability in math, English, Indonesian and two other elective subjects. However, the new standardized exams will not be a requirement for students to pass their grade.
“The TKA is based on different subjects and will help measure the abilities of students looking to enter universities,” Mu’ti said during a media gathering in Jakarta last Friday, adding that he would soon formalize the policy in a ministerial decree.
Read also: Government to roll out new exams for high school students this year
