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More Than a New School: Building a Learning Community for the Future

A school is more than a building where children come to learn. It is a community where young people discover their potential, learn to understand the world around them, build relationships, and gradually develop the values that will shape how they live.

When a school becomes part of a community, therefore, the more important question is not simply what students will learn in the classroom, but who they will become through their education.

This is at the heart of Sekolah Dian Harapan (SDH) Depok, which was officially launched by Pelita Harapan Group (PHG) on August 8, 2026. The Grand Launching marked a new step in PHG’s efforts to build a learning community in Depok that prepares young people for the future while helping them develop the character they will carry throughout their lives.

In her address at the launch, Dr. Stephanie Riady, President of Pelita Harapan Group, emphasised that SDH Depok is not simply about opening another school, but about building a learning community that grows alongside the people and communities it serves.

"Every school is born for a reason. Some are born out of necessity, while others are born out of opportunity. But I hope SDH Depok will be known as a school that was born out of a calling, a calling to shape lives."

That perspective matters at a time when the future young people are preparing for is increasingly difficult to predict. They will enter a world shaped by technological change, evolving workplaces, and increasingly complex social challenges. Education therefore needs to prepare students not only with what is already known, but with the capacity to keep learning, asking questions, thinking critically, and adapting.

One expression of this approach at SDH Depok is its emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). STEM is not simply about mastering scientific or mathematical subjects. It provides students with opportunities to investigate real-world problems, ask questions, use evidence to develop understanding, explore different possibilities, and work collaboratively toward solutions.

Through this process, students learn more than how to find an answer. They learn how to approach problems that do not have simple answers, to test ideas, learn from setbacks, listen to different perspectives, and refine their thinking based on what they discover.

These capabilities (critical thinking, problem-solving, computational thinking, communication, and collaboration) are increasingly important in a changing world. But for PHG, these competencies do not stand alone. Knowledge and skills need to grow alongside character, integrity, empathy, faith, and an understanding that what one learns and is capable of doing can be used in service of others.

This is why the learning environment at SDH Depok is designed to support more than the delivery of academic content. The campus will include smart classrooms, collaborative workspaces, a library, laboratories, and sports facilities. These spaces are intended to give students opportunities to explore, work together, create, and develop academically, socially, and physically.

Yet facilities alone do not make a school.

What brings a school to life is the community that grows within it.

At SDH Depok, students will be encouraged to learn with and from one another, build meaningful relationships, recognise their strengths and challenges, and understand how their choices and actions affect the people around them.

This vision also resonates with the priorities expressed by the Depok City Government. Deputy Mayor of Depok, Chandra Rahmansyah, highlighted education as a shared responsibility requiring collaboration among government, schools, families, and the wider community. A school becomes more meaningful when it is not an institution operating in isolation, but part of an ecosystem working together to support the growth and development of young people.

For PHG, education is ultimately a calling to develop the whole person. Educational success cannot be measured only by grades or academic achievements, but also by the character students develop, the integrity they demonstrate, the empathy they cultivate, and the ways they choose to use their knowledge for the benefit of others.

SDH Depok is scheduled to begin operations in July 2027, serving students from Kindergarten through High School. Its journey as a new school may only be beginning, but its purpose reaches much further.

When students eventually leave school, they will take with them more than the knowledge they gained in the classroom. They will carry ways of thinking, values, relationships, and experiences that will shape the choices they make in the years ahead.

Perhaps that is the true measure of a school: not simply how much it teaches, but who it helps its students become.