Prabowo's People's School Program Remains Largely Unknown to the Public

People's Schools are one of President Prabowo Subianto's programs, slated to launch as early as July 2025.

These schools will offer free education at the elementary, junior high, and senior high school levels. The program aims to help children from impoverished families break the cycle of poverty.

"100 percent free schooling. Uniforms, meals, everything is free, and there are dormitories for student housing," said Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf in a press release (March 11, 2025).

The government aims to complete construction of People's Schools at 53 locations by June 2025, allowing them to operate for the 2025/2026 academic year.

However, public awareness of this program remains low. According to a Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) poll, only 7.6% of respondents were aware of and followed news related to People's Schools.

Furthermore, 20.5% had merely heard of it, 43.1% only learned about People's Schools during the survey interview, while 28.8% were unaware of the program's existence.

Despite this, a majority, or 94.4%, of respondents approved of the People's Schools program. This comprises 66.2% who agreed and 28.2% who strongly agreed.

"This public appreciation and support will certainly encourage the government to accelerate the implementation of this program, which provides opportunities for children from poor families to achieve a better future," stated the Litbang Kompas team in their report on Friday, June 2, 2025.

This Litbang Kompas survey involved 1,200 respondents from 38 provinces, randomly selected from the Litbang Kompas panel, in proportion to the population of each province.

Data collection was conducted from April 7-12, 2025, through telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error is approximately 2.83%, with a 95% confidence level under simple random sampling conditions.