Two-eyed Knives Of Learning Digitization Program

JAKARTA - The Learning Digitization Program echoed by President Prabowo Subianto raises a big question, can this really be carried out according to the principle of justice?

Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 7 of 2025 concerning the Revitalization of the Education Unit, Garuda Superior High School and Learning Digitization are a new milestone in the direction of national education policy.

Through this policy, the Ministry of Elementary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) is committed to implementing a school digitization program to encourage equitable distribution of the quality of technology-based education.

However, the learning digitization program echoed by President Prabowo was not immediately warmly welcomed by the public and education observers. Moreover, the public has often been presented with unpleasant news about corruption cases, which come from the procurement of goods in educational institutions.

Education observer Darmaningtyas said learning digitization can be double-edged. On the one hand, it brings goodness, but on the other hand, it has the potential to widen injustice in the world of education.

President Prabowo Subianto has launched a learning digitization program conducted at SMP 4 Bekasi City, Java Baat, Monday (17/11/2025). The launch of this program was marked by the delivery of digital interactive panels to 173,000 schools. Through these panels, students can access learning content from various sources so that the problem of inequality in numbers and quality of teachers can be overcome.

The digitization of learning by providing digital interactive panels will be initiated in May 2025. The government's target is to distribute more than 288,000 digital interactive board units by the end of December this year.

It is planned that each school will get one unit first, then add three more units so that three classes in each school can use this technology. Installation of the panel is prioritized in the leading, outermost, and underdeveloped areas or 3T.

Digitalization of learning by providing digital interactive panels, said the president, to facilitate access to various learning content. Because not all schools and teachers can provide the same learning material.

"Digitalization is our effort to jump. We know these shortcomings; we know teachers need to be rotated; we know there are some subjects where our teachers lack competence, such as English, Math, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, it may be difficult in the regions. This is one way to jump and accelerate," Prabowo said.

Speaking of digitization of learning, the public must still remember about the corruption case in the procurement of Chromebooks when the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Teknoloi (Kendikbudriste) was led by Nadiem Makarim. The fantastic budget of Rp9.98 trillion evaporated somewhere.

In the investigation, it was proven that Nadiem's technical team was indeed directed to dedicate Chromebooks. In other words, the procurement of Chromebooks in schools is not based on actual needs.

Then in the middle of this year, the government shared thousands of smart TVs to schools.

Reflecting on this situation, you could say digitalization is interpreted as as simple as sharing laptops or other devices, in the hope of improving the quality of Indonesian education.

In fact, digitization is more than that. Digitalization is about the transformation of the education ecosystem, ranging from infrastructure, curriculum, teaching methodology, to human resource readiness (HR).

A number of education observers assess that digitalization should not only stop at providing tools, but must touch the basic foundation, such as stable internet access, teacher capacity in digital literacy, and curriculum relevant to the needs of the 21st century.

Data from the Ministry of Communication and Digital states that internet users in Indonesia have reached 221 million, equivalent to 79.5 percent of the total population. However, this figure is accompanied by a number of problems, including questions about uneven internet connections.

In various big cities, internet connections can reach 5G, but this does not happen in many remote areas. Director of Literacy House 45, Andreas said that the educational gap in remote areas is a big challenge that must be faced.

"There is still a lot of government homework related to unresolved infrastructure, such as access to electricity which is a primary resource in reaching all over the country," Andreas said.

Meanwhile, education observer Darmaningtyas said, digitizing learning is not only enough to divide smart TVs into schools in a digitization program, but also to prepare good infrastructure, especially for electricity and the internet.

The main infrastructure development must be carried out in areas that do not yet have electricity and internet networks. Main infrastructure development must be carried out in areas that do not yet have electricity and internet networks.

"So digitalization in education can be double-edged. On the one hand, it can bring progress for education but on the other hand it can widen the gap in education between schools in urban areas and those in rural areas," said Darmaningtyas.

According to his records, there are at least 3000 villages that have not been electrified and 13,000 villages do not yet have internet access. Especially in the area of Java, the problem is increasing, it's no longer just a matter of having an electricity network or not, but the electricity is often broken and unstable.

"Well, the live electricity will interfere with the online learning process. That's why I think this is our common concern, how we remind the development of adequate BTS. Thus, the internet will spread or touch areas that do not have a network so far," he said.

He also highlighted the issue of digital media content that is too free and out of control. Moreover, educational content does not attract students' attention much. They are more interested in entertainment content such as TikTok.

Procurement of digital interactive panels, which are part of the Learning Digitization program, is expected not only to be a project for irresponsible people. The corruption case in the Nadiem Makarim era is clear evidence that digitalization is prone to becoming a corruption event.