Education has become a central issue in West Papua. During the Suharto regime, the Indonesian government paid little attention to educational investment in the province which led to poor educational infrastructure and a shortage of teachers. As a result, the quality of human resources in the province is poor. Since 2001, the adoption of the Special Autonomy Law has seen education emerge as a priority program for local government. Improving the quality of human resources to match standards in other provinces has emerged as a new challenge for the province. The article highlights the critical issues relating to the education system, education investment and policy formulation to support the development of West Papua. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)