Iwan Syahril

Iwan Syahril, Ph.D. is an Indonesian teacher and bureaucrat currently working in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education of the Republic of Indonesia as Director General for Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education. He is also a lecturer at Sampoerna University and has served as Dean of the Faculty of Education. In addition, he is a researcher and co-founder of the Center for Education and Policy Studies (PSPK), a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Jakarta.

Early life Iwan comes from a family of teachers in Padang, West Sumatra. He is the eldest son of Syahril Kasim and Syafrida, both of Minangkabau descent. His father was a well-known English teacher in Padang from the 1960s to the 1990s, and his mother comes from a farming family in Batusangkar. Many of Iwan’s relatives, including his uncles, aunts, cousins, and in-laws, are also teachers, both in civil service and honorary positions. His passion for education led him to become a teacher and focus on teacher education. After serving as the Special Staff to the Minister for Learning and as Director General of Teachers and Educational Personnel, Iwan now serves as the Director General of PAUD Dikdasmen.

Education Iwan completed his elementary to high school education in Padang. He earned his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Padjadjaran University in Bandung in 1998. He later pursued a postgraduate program in English Education at the Indonesia University of Education. Iwan went on to earn two master’s degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York: one in Secondary Education and another in Curriculum and Teaching. He also earned a Ph.D. from Michigan State University, focusing on Education Policy and Teacher Education.

Family Iwan married Xanty Dwi Putri in 2001, and they have two children: Shakila Aliyahputri Syahril and Iqra Hatta Syahril.

Among the scientific publications he has written, including the article “Teacher Training and Preparation” published in The Encyclopedia of Education Economics and Finance and the article “Globalization and Teacher Education” published in the International Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. He also wrote a chapter in the book Opportunities and Challenges of 21st Century Education with several lecturers at Sampoerna University. In 2017, Iwan was one of the team members who designed the social and personality competency teacher training for the DKI Jakarta Education Office. In 2019, Iwan joined the expert team at the National Accreditation Board for Schools and Madrasahs (BAN-SM). In addition, he has been a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Jakarta in designing the SDGs Leadership Academy curriculum.

In his current position as Director General for Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Iwan has been instrumental in leading transformative changes in Indonesia's PreK-12 education system, emphasizing student-centered policies to enhance the quality of education for millions of students across the country. This requires Iwan to work with 552 autonomous local governments in a very decentralized education governance system. He has been instrumental in implementing technology-driven reforms and promoting Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) across Indonesian schools. His leadership has facilitated the establishment of over 300,000 PLCs in schools and more than 125,000 online PLCs.