JAKARTA - Indonesia’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) have deployed 150 LPDP alumni under a program called Alumni Pejuang Digital, or Digital Fighter Alumni, to support technology-based learning in some of the country’s most remote schools.

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming and Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu'ti formally dispatched the group on Thursday, April 2, at the Auditorium of the Vice President's Secretariat Office in Jakarta. 

“Participants are not present as substitutes for teachers, but as digital learning partners and innovation partners, working together to provide more engaging and relevant learning for students,” said Abdul Mu’ti, as quoted in a press release published the following day, April 3.

The 150 alumni will each be posted to one of 150 elementary schools across four districts that fall under the government's 3T classification, covering underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions. 

The four districts are Merauke in Papua Selatan, Halmahera Utara in Maluku Utara, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, and Sumedang in West Java. Each posting runs for 12 weeks. The initiative is the second LPDP Alumni Real Action Program (PANA), following its first project on sustainable village tourism capacity building in Sumba.

The program is tied to the government’s existing rollout of Interactive Flat Panel devices, which have already been distributed to schools across Indonesia, with the ministry having aimed to deliver 288,000 units last year.

“Digitalization isn’t just a tool. It's a shift in mindset and how we prepare for the future. You are the agents of change who will oversee this transition to ensure its sustainability,” said Vice President Gibran. 

The institution says that over 98,000 recipients have benefited from the funding, which, according to Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Sadewa, comes from both taxpayers and state debts. Of the 60,000 active alumni, approximately 38,000 are active scholarship recipients with 41% studying abroad and 59% studying domestically.