Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has agreed to increase teachers’ salary, particularly those with a civil servant status, following mounting concerns that Indonesian educators do not earn much despite their pivotal role in human capital development.

But at the same time, Indonesia’s government officials will also get a bigger paycheck than before.

According to a 2025 presidential regulation signed at the end of June, Prabowo listed some quick wins that his government would pursue to boost growth. The document is an updated version of a 2024 regulation that had also laid out the government’s priorities. In the 2025 version, the government sticks to its plan of increasing the salary for the country’s civil servants, particularly schoolteachers, lecturers, medical workers, policemen, and military officers. But the 2025 version showed that the salary increases would also apply to government officials.

A teacher with a civil servant status refers to those teaching in state-owned schools. They also have to undergo a strict, government-regulated selection process before they can secure the job. Indonesia recently saw massive waves of protests over economic inequality. In a slogan popularly known as the 17+8 demand, pro-democracy activists also demanded reasonable wages for the country’s workforce, including teachers.

The freshly revealed presidential regulation also showed how Prabowo was still looking to set up a state revenue agency. In the document, he wishes to catapult the tax-to-GDP ratio to 23 percent. The 2024 version only included the phrase “optimizing state revenue” without any mention of the state revenue agency.

The rest of the document remains the same. Prabowo still intends to ramp up his free meal rollout that seeks to feed the country’s schoolchildren nutritious lunches. The National Nutrition Agency, which is in charge of overseeing the program, recently got a major boost to its 2026 annual budget, now reaching Rp 268 trillion or approximately $16.3 billion. Prabowo also aims to establish high-quality and integrated schools, while also renovating the educational facilities that have been in bad shape.

The government is also expected to step up the rollout of free medical check-ups. Agricultural productivity will remain high in Prabowo’s agenda as the government plans to establish food barns.