Fajarasia.co – The chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, highlighted reports of hundreds of thousands of madrasah students from Beneficiary Families of the Family Hope Program (KPM PKH) who have not received their rights. They should be entitled to assistance through the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP).
“We urge the government to pay attention to the fate of children who have not yet received their rights to receive PIP assistance. Immediately realize the provision of assistance for madrasa students,” said Puan, Monday (26/9/2022).
Based on a report from the Religious Education Committee of the House of Representatives Commission VIII, there are more than 2.6 million madrasah students who this year are entitled to education funding assistance. The details of the recipients are one million students of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) and Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs) and four hundred thousand more students of Madrasah Aliyah (MA).
Of the 2.6 million madrasa students, there are still more than three hundred thousand who have not received their rights because the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) still lacks funds of Rp. 242.1 billion. Puan also hopes that the Government will pay attention to this issue.
“Don’t let children who should be entitled to receive educational assistance be sacrificed due to budget allocation constraints,” said the first woman who served as Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives.
“All children have the right to access and educational facilities, including those who are less fortunate. It is the duty of the State to fulfill these needs,” added Puan.
The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also reminded the Government of the promise that education funds transferred to local governments could be fully accessed, including for madrasas. According to Puan, there are still many children in the area who have difficulty getting proper educational facilities.
“I traveled to various regions, I found various problems regarding the lack of educational facilities for children. Some cannot go to school because their schools are often flooded, others because they don’t have uniforms,” he said.
According to Puan, such problems should not have occurred. Regarding the lack of PIP funds for madrasa students, he reminded the importance of definite regulations.
“So this DAK can be accessed by madrasas and Islamic boarding schools, which we know are mostly managed by private foundations. With definite regulations, the local government has the obligation to allocate a budget for education assistance, “said Puan.
The grandson of the Proclaimer of the Republic of Indonesia Bung Karno also emphasized that the right of children to receive educational assistance must be given. Puan said that the technical issues in the distribution of the budget must be resolved.
“Accelerate education assistance which is the right of these children. The right of children to obtain educational assistance from the government should not be ignored,” he concluded.****
