Apriana Toding Memajukan Pendidikan Inklusif di Daerah Terpencil Melalui Inovasi Digital
For Professor Apriana Toding, innovation has never been confined to academic journals. It travels across mountains and directly into classrooms in remote villages that need it most. Strengthened by her academic journey in Australia, this belief drives her efforts to bridge Indonesia’s digital divide through practical, research-driven solutions.
Her innovative signal-relay system, Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO), gives schoolchildren in remote areas access to online learning resources, enabling them to explore materials beyond their textbooks. For teachers, MIMO helps them find fresh teaching ideas and upload their teaching materials online.
The system was the subject of Apriana’s PhD research in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Curtin University in 2014. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, she found the right moment to put it into action.
‘People in cities get to enjoy good internet connections, but what about those in areas where connectivity is poor, and funding for network development is limited?' said Apriana, the Australian Alumni Awards – South Sulawesi winner for the Innovation Award, presented by the Australian Consulate-General in Makassar on 24 January 2026.
‘This made me think about how I can use my expertise to improve connectivity in my hometown and replicate it in other areas facing similar challenges.’
How MIMO Helped Students Stay Connected During COVID-19
During the pandemic, in remote parts of Indonesia, weak and unreliable internet connections left students at home without lessons for weeks or even months.
‘My first thought was that this would push 3T (disadvantaged, frontier and remote) regions even further behind in education. Teachers carried the heaviest burden because they had to visit students’ homes to give lessons,’ Apriana recalled.
Seeing these challenges, she decided to test MIMO at Tikala 09 Elementary School in Benteng Ka'do Torea Village, South Sulawesi, where her father’s relatives live. Despite being only 10 kilometres from the nearest city, the hill-surrounded village in North Toraja Regency had no internet access.
The MIMO relay system strengthens and extends internet coverage by using multiple antennas for transmitting and receiving signals.
With support from the Curtin University Alumni Chapter Indonesia (CUACI) and Universitas Kristen Indonesia Paulus (UKI Paulus) in Makassar, where Apriana teaches, she set up online and offline internet networks at the school, strengthened by the MIMO relay system.
The MIMO system expanded the school’s internet coverage to the nearest teachers’ homes. These homes were also equipped with relay systems that transmitted internet signals to up to 20 houses. Through relay points at teachers’ homes, nearby students could access the internet offline.
Teachers and students who lived farther from the school could still access the internet with the help of additional relay towers built nearby. ‘Students could continue their studies safely from home,’ Apriana said.
However, the impact of her innovation did not end there. Unlike textbooks, online materials can be easily reused, updated and accessed. Teachers could connect with peers beyond their villages to collaborate and network, while also building their digital literacy.
From Campus Networks to Community Connectivity
Inspiration for the MIMO system came from the online and offline internet networks at Curtin University. The campus provided a reliable, fast and free internet connection for students and lecturers to browse lesson materials and interact with peers on campus.
‘I started thinking that I could combine what I learned in Curtin with what was available in Indonesia into a system that could bolster internet capability,’ said Apriana, who had graduated with a Masters of Engineering Science in 2005 from the same university.
When preparing for MIMO implementation, she collaborated with two members of CUACI.They assisted with data management and made study modules.
‘I have expertise in communication technology, but I’m not an expert in education and data management. The collaboration shows that when alumni with different expertise combine their efforts in a project, it will give optimum results,’ she noted.
Experiencing the Digital Divide Up Close
The digital divide hits close to home for Apriana, who grew up in Sereale, a remote village in North Toraja, as the youngest of seven children.
When her older siblings moved to Rantepao, North Toraja’s capital, for high school, they only came home every two to three months. When she missed them, she couldn’t call them, because the village’s telecommunication network was so limited. Only the village chief had a phone.
‘Being able to communicate with our family wherever we are is truly remarkable. Video calls make it easier to stay in touch. But even today, many still struggle to stay connected to their families due to limited network access. This is what drove me to pursue communication technology,’ Apriana said.
Connectivity Challenges in Remote Classrooms
After the pandemic, Apriana continued to expand MIMO. With a grant from the Australia Awards in Indonesia’ Alumni Grant Scheme, she took MIMO to two more elementary schools in Tana Toraja Regency and Pangkep.
However, only the school in Pangkep continues to use MIMO.
Apriana observed that one of the biggest challenges was the shortage of staff to operate and maintain the system.Despite receiving technical training and guidance, the teachers at the other two schools struggled to use the technology.
‘Teachers at those two schools were mostly senior educators. Retyping and uploading materials became overwhelming for those whose eyesight and motor skills had begun to decline. As a result, they returned to manually writing lessons and grading tests,’ she explained. ‘We need more young teachers in remote schools if we want to expand digital inclusion.’
Therefore, she emphasised the need for ongoing mentoring in remote-area schools to ensure that school staff feel comfortable using digital technology in their work.She also noted that budget constraints, particularly for internet subscriptions, were a challenge for remote schools that depended on the government’s school operational subsidy, Dana BOS.
Improving Educational Equality Through Digital Inclusion
The pandemic transformed education in unprecedented ways. The internet has expanded learning beyond the classroom, offering greater flexibility in time, space and resources. However, in areas with limited access to devices and digital skills, inequality has widened.While Apriana praised the Indonesian Government’s efforts to improve connectivity by building telecommunication infrastructure, she noted that many communities had yet to experience the full benefits. Often, she said, the internet was used mainly for social media, rather than for value-creating activities, such as growing local businesses.
‘This is why ongoing support is important, so they can feel confident using the technology and make the most of it,’ she remarked.
To ensure that digital inclusion had a meaningful impact on education in remote areas, she emphasised that implementation should focus on elementary schools.
‘A passion for learning starts in elementary school. If students are exposed to creativity from the start, they are more likely to build the motivation to continue their studies through middle and high school and on to college,’ Apriana remarked. ‘Over time, this will help narrow educational inequality between students in cities and villages.’
