At a Glance

• 2,000 young athletes competed in the President's Cup 2026 national championship (June 25–28)
• 1948: the year IPSI, Indonesia's pencak silat federation, was founded in Surakarta
• 2032: the Olympic Games PB IPSI is targeting for pencak silat's debut

Right now, pencak silat is something your kid might do after school if their friends are into it. Soon, it could be something every Indonesian student learns whether they like it or not.

That's the plan Secretary-General of PB IPSI (Pengurus Besar Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia), Abdul Karim Aljufri, laid out on June 28, 2026, at the closing of the Pencak Silat National Championship President's Cup 2026 at Padepokan Pencak Silat TMII in East Jakarta. The move follows a direct instruction from President Prabowo Subianto, who also chairs PB IPSI, to bring the martial art into schools nationwide.

What is this pencak silat curriculum plan?

PB IPSI wants pencak silat taught as a core school subject, not just an optional after-school club. Right now it typically appears only in extracurricular slots, if it appears at all. Abdul Karim confirmed PB IPSI has already formed an internal task force, temporarily named the "Badan Misi Kurikulum Pendidikan" (Education Curriculum Mission Body), to design what that classroom material would actually look like. The federation says it will need to work directly with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) to formalize anything.

Nothing is locked in yet. PB IPSI is still finalizing its own leadership structure after a recent national congress before the task force can fully mobilize. Academic input is also part of the process  the federation says it's pulling in Indonesia's Association of Pencak Silat Doctorates to help shape lesson content, so this isn't just choreography and history lessons; there's an attempt at academic rigor behind it.

"If we only had pencak silat as an optional part of the curriculum before, going forward, we're ready to welcome this program and see it properly implemented in schools," Abdul Karim Aljufri said.

Why is this happening now?

Timing matters here. The announcement landed right after the President's Cup 2026, a four-day national tournament (June 25–28) that pulled in roughly 2,000 young fighters from elementary through high school level, competing across categories like Tanding (sparring) and Seni (artistic performance). Registration ran between Rp350,000 and Rp600,000 depending on the category  team events costing more than solo ones.

That volume of youth participation is exactly the pipeline PB IPSI wants to formalize. There's also a bigger target sitting behind all of this: PB IPSI and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) have both publicly said they want pencak silat competing at the 2032 Olympics. Getting kids trained early, at scale, in schools, is part of that long game.

Is this replacing existing PE classes?

Not confirmed. PB IPSI has floated both scenarios  pencak silat as a core subject or as a strengthened extracurricular  and says the final shape depends on what Kemendikdasmen agrees to once formal talks begin. Nothing suggests an existing subject gets cut to make room.

Here's the part that might surprise you: pencak silat isn't a recent invention dressed up as tradition. IPSI itself was founded in 1948 in Surakarta, Central Java, making this one of the oldest sports federations in the country  older than Indonesia's own independence recognition by some neighboring states. Folding it into school curricula isn't introducing something new; it's formalizing something that predates most of the country's education system as we know it.

For now, watch Kemendikdasmen. Nothing becomes policy until that ministry signs off, and PB IPSI says those conversations are only just starting.