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View all search resultsState schools see dwindling enrollment as academic year kicks off
As students return to school for the 2026/2027 academic year that started on July 13, state elementary schools in several regions have reported low enrollment. Some have enrolled as few as three new pupils, while others have no new pupils at all.
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A teacher teaches a new pupil during a school orientation program at SD Cepokosawit II state elementary school in Boyolali, Central Java, on July 13, 2026. The Boyolali Education Agency is discussing a plan to merge the school with others that have seen low enrollment during this academic year to maintain the quality of education. (Antara/Mohammad Ayudha)
F
ewer students have enrolled at state schools across the country for the upcoming academic year, a trend attributed to parents’ lack of confidence in the public education system, as well as a shrinking school-age population.
As students return to school for the 2026/2027 academic year that started on July 13, state elementary schools in several regions have reported low enrollment. Some have enrolled as few as three new pupils, while others have no new pupils at all.
Forty-nine elementary schools in Tulungagung, East Java, admitted fewer than three new pupils, with four schools failing to enroll any at all.
Local officials, such as Rifka Zuyun Umadah of the Tulungagung Education Agency, were quick to cite declining birth rates as the reason for the empty classrooms.
“Birth rates have declined,” Rifka said, “which means fewer children graduate from kindergarten.”
In neighboring Ponorogo regency, SD Nailan state elementary school in Slahung district has not enrolled a new pupil for two consecutive years, leaving its first and second grades empty. The 13 new pupils the school admitted this year are in grades three to six.
The shortfall, according to Nailan village head Nurhadi, was not due to inadequate facilities at the school, but because it is surrounded by other schools, including religion-based ones, that are more popular among parents.
