Editorial
From shrinking birth rates to stagnant teaching quality, the country’s public elementary schools are facing a quiet crisis of empty classrooms - leaving educators and policymakers wondering where all the students went.
Students attend class at the SDN 2 Salakaria state elementary school in Ciamis regency, West Java on July 15, 2026. The school only had one new student for the 2026/2027 academic year as most of nearby residents are elderlies with no school-age children. (Antara/Adeng Bustomi)
Walk into many state elementary schools across the country today, and you will notice something eerie: rows of empty desks. In a handful of regions, entire first-grade classrooms are sitting completely vacant for the new academic year, which began on July 13.In Ponorogo regency, East Java, 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. Similarly, in places like Blitar, Tulungagung and Karanganyar, several schools couldn’t pull in a single new student.
“It’s like a private course, but it doesn’t matter,” a mother in Surakarta, Central Java said when seeing her kid attend a class with four other first-grade students only. A schoolteacher said last year the state primary education institution admitted 18 new students.
