Beginning the 2025-2026 academic year, Indonesia’s Ministry of Education rolled out AI and coding as elective subjects across approximately 59,000 primary and secondary schools nationwide. The curriculum introduces primary school students to AI literacy and data security (2 hours per week in grade 5 and junior high, up to 5 hours per week in senior high), and secondary school students to Python programming. The ministry has completed the academic framework and curriculum modules and initiated teacher training across the country. Learning objectives focus on computational thinking, systematic problem-solving, and algorithmic logic rather than only technical skills. Microsoft’s Elevate program provides additional AI training targeting 500,000 AI-certified educators by 2026. The programme does not permit students to use open-ended AI answer generation tools; only AI tools specifically designed for structured educational purposes are allowed.
Who it affects: Students in primary and secondary schools; teachers in participating schools; rural and urban schools across all Indonesian provinces; vocational education institutions.
What is notably missing: The curriculum is voluntary and elective, not mandatory. There is no legal requirement that teachers receive AI training before teaching the subject; the ministry reports uneven teacher readiness across schools, particularly in rural areas. No dedicated national funding allocation is specified per school, and implementation depends largely on individual school capacity and external partnerships like Microsoft Elevate. The programme lacks enforcement mechanisms for quality assurance and does not address the severe infrastructure gap: only 54% of Indonesian schools have consistent internet access, while rural regions show 30% high-speed connectivity versus 80% in urban areas, creating structural inequality in AI education access.