The sustainable educational in Indonesia, aimed at producing increasingly better-quality outputs, has faced obstacles and challenges, including the learning achievement gaps caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, instances of concealed child exploitation, corruption in the education sector remains a significant concern, and the percentage of the population aged 7-24 who have never attended school or no longer attend school was 0.58% and 28.66% in 2019, 0.54% and 28.37% in 2020, and 0.62% and 28.84% in 2022, respectively. These obstacles and challenges are strengthened by several previous studies showing that it is necessary and urgent to address them through improved leadership which cannot be separated from the performance of competent stakeholders in the education sector. Based on qualitative literature reviews, combined with a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis and the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix, this study draws two primary conclusions. First, the predominant leadership model in current educational departments combines hierarchical and functional structures, with the hierarchical approach being more dominant. The dominance of this hierarchical approach is one of the reasons why obstacles and challenges have not been resolved in building sustainable education in Indonesia. Second, addressing obstacles and challenges in building sustainable education in Indonesia should prioritize transformational leadership. By upholding this approach, the educational departments can achieve both organizational and individual performance goals. The objective and thoughtful implementation of these findings is anticipated to yield maximal short-term and long-term benefits for the educational departments, fostering the growth of transformational leaders for the future.