SPMB 2026 is closely monitored, Kemendikdasmen threatens to take action against perpetrators of selling seats

JAKAARTA - The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) will take firm action against perpetrators of the practice of buying and selling chairs in the implementation of the 2026 New Student Admission System (SPMB). This was emphasized by the Director General of Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, and Nonformal and Informal Education (PAUD Dikdas PNFI) Gogot Suharwoto.

According to him, the regional government (Pemda) has the authority to determine the capacity of schools through technical instructions (juknis) signed by the regional head. After being determined, the capacity data is immediately locked in the basic education data system (Dapodik).

"So once the regional head signs, we can report it directly to our Dapodik, we lock it. So there is no name for selling seats," said Gogot in a SPMB 2026 media briefing in Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, May 7.

He admitted that he received a number of reports of alleged chair sales that appeared on social media during last year's SPMB implementation. He revealed that he received 19 direct messages (DM) reporting the sale of chairs.

"I deliberately DM one-on-one and ask if there is any evidence or not. If there is evidence, we will send a team down," he said.

He admitted that the report came from a number of areas such as South Tangerang, Medan, Jakarta, and Bogor. However, after being traced and checked, the alleged evidence was not found.

"There are in Banten, there are in Medan, there are in Jakarta too, there are in Bogor. I ask you to check all of them," he said.

He even admitted to conducting a direct digital search of the reports.

"I monitor the trail because I used to be the head of Pustekkom so I used to check the address and so on. I checked and asked one by one there was none," he explained.

However, Gogot asked the public to immediately report to law enforcement officers if they found evidence of the practice of buying and selling seats in the implementation of SPMB. "If there is evidence, there is no need to make a fuss, just report it to the authorities and it can be dealt with immediately," he suggested.

In addition, Gogot emphasized that the addition of school capacity could not be done carelessly because it had to consider the readiness of classrooms, the number of teachers, and the school's operational budget.

The Ministry of Education also asked local governments (Pemda) to obey the rules regarding the capacity of students in state schools. Gogot said the central government had regulated provisions on student capacity. The local government is expected to support this central policy.

"For this capacity, we ask the local government to calculate correctly while still referring to laws and regulations regarding standards for managing education," said the Director General.

He said that according to the provisions, the number of students and study groups (rombel) for elementary schools is a maximum of 28 people, junior high school is a maximum of 32 students per rombel, high school/vocational school is a maximum of 38 students per rombel. However, the realization in the field still has schools that exceed the provisions.

School principals are forced to accommodate students beyond the rombel. Just imagine, one rombel in SMP and SMA 49-50 students so that the class is crowded and uncomfortable. In fact, the rules for adding student capacity are very strict.