Indonesia’s ambitious US$1.1 billion programme to digitalise its schools faces an uncertain future, reminiscent of similar unsuccessful endeavours undertaken across the globe.
Meanwhile, Dewi Anggraeni, a tenacious researcher from Indonesia, is leaving no stone unturned in her quest to uncover the missing links in the country’s education budget. As a member of the state watchdog, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Dewi—who prefers being referred to by this name—is meticulously scrutinising the distribution of electronic devices, including laptops, procured by the education ministry as part of the digitisation programme.
But the trail is growing cold.
Dewi and her team are scrambling to find out why essential buys are absent from government records despite public-documentation rules.
For instance, a ministry document shows the Directorate of Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education’s plan to buy laptops worth IDR 844 million (US$55,500) in January 2023, but the amount does not reflect in the LPSE (Layanan Pengadaan Secara Elektronik) database, a state-run electronic-procurement website that is supposed to track such transactions.
This is just one of many concerns surrounding a high-stakes electronics-procurement plan launched by Education Minister Nadiem Makarim.
Laptop-distribution plans for schools have a global history of fizzling out. The US-born One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme famously flamed out flamed out The Verge OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong Read more amid myriad obstacles. Malaysia scrapped its school-digitalisation programme in 2019 after an audit found found the Edge Markets MoE should have promoted 1BestariNet better Read more it ineffective.
In India, too, a number of state governments have introduced free-laptop-for-students plans over the years. While some saw mild success, most are yet to come to fruition due to setbacks, including electronic-chip delays, cost-cutting measures, and confusion over the bidding process.
In Indonesia, Makarim had earmarked a billion dollars to digitise schools by 2024. The initiative involved a large-scale procurement of electronics. When the implementation began in 2021, the ministry allocated US$243 million from that year’s education budget to buy laptops and other gadgets.
Since then, the ICW has closely monitored the plan as significant government procurements sometimes open up embezzlement opportunities. The NGO has also voiced concerns that the procurement process is not inclusive.
The plan gives an unfair advantage to certain companies. Firstly, it favours local manufacturers because it requires vendors to meet a threshold for locally made parts. Given that Indonesia does not have a well-established high-end electronics manufacturing industry yet, prioritising local vendors may lead to increased spending on products that have not been sufficiently stress-tested.
Secondly, the plan states that laptops must run on ChromeOS—US tech giant Google’s cloud-centric operating system (OS).
