This is the Student-Teacher Ratio in Indonesian Schools in 2023/2024.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that there were 3.03 million teachers throughout Indonesia in the 2023/2024 academic year. This represents an increase of approximately 31,000 teachers, or 1.03%, compared to the previous academic year.

Despite the increase in the number of teachers, their distribution across the country is uneven. The BPS notes that more teachers are concentrated in major cities, while remote areas suffer from a teacher shortage.

"This results in varying workloads for teachers in different regions. This teacher workload can be seen through the student-teacher ratio," writes the BPS in its report titled *Education Statistics 2024*.

The student-teacher ratio is the average number of students per teacher at a particular education level. A higher ratio indicates less teacher supervision per student, leading to potentially lower teaching quality.

In the 2023/2024 academic year, the highest student-teacher ratio was found at the senior high school (SMA) level, at 14.95. This means one senior high school teacher is responsible for 15 students.

The student-teacher ratio was 14.89 for vocational high schools (SMK); 14.84 for elementary schools (SD); and 13.93 for junior high schools (SMP), the lowest ratio.

Government Regulation Number 74 of 2008 concerning Teachers, Article 17, states that the ideal student-teacher ratio is one teacher for every 20 students at the elementary, junior high, and senior high school levels. For vocational high schools, the ideal ratio is one teacher for every 15 students.

While nationally, the student-teacher ratio at each level does not exceed the ideal limit, several provinces still exceed it.

At the elementary school level, Papua Pegunungan has the highest student-teacher ratio, reaching 34.24. This is followed by Central Papua (27.90) and South Papua (21.25).

"This figure indicates that there is still an uneven distribution of elementary school teachers at the provincial level," writes the BPS.