Addressing Out of School Children after Presidential Regulation Number 3 of 2026 through an Education Futures Lens

Abstract

Out of school children (OOSC) remain a structural problem for Indonesian education, affecting 3.78 million children aged 6 to 18. The government has responded with Presidential Regulation Number 3 of 2026 on the Prevention and Handling of Out of School Children, which sets out a cross sectoral national strategy and a target of zero OOSC by 2045. This study examines where the policy is heading after the regulation came into force, using the education futures framework as its analytical lens. The research takes a qualitative approach built on library research and content analysis of policy documents, international agency reports, and the scholarly literature, complemented by one community level case illustration drawn from the author's direct observation. Three findings stand out. First, the regulation marks a shift from sectoral, fragmented handling of OOSC toward collaborative governance that binds central government, regional governments, villages, and communities together. Second, read against the OECD scenarios for the future of schooling and UNESCO's vision of a new social contract for education, the policy still leans heavily on expanding formal schooling and has yet to anticipate how learning pathways may diversify. Third, implementation will stand or fall on the accuracy of integrated OOSC data, the fiscal and institutional capacity of regions, and how flexibly services can reach the nine categories of vulnerable children. The article recommends building futures literacy among policymakers so that the response does more than return children to school; it should prepare a learning ecosystem that stays relevant to the future those children will actually live in.