The Government of Sisir Jalanan in Jakarta is Looking for Candidates for Students of People's Schools

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) took proactive steps by combing market areas to street intersections in Jakarta and surrounding areas to catch up with abandoned or out-of-school children so that they can continue their education at the People's School.

"We are reaching out through proactive steps by going to places such as intersections and markets. We are looking for school-age children who should be studying, but instead are working as street vendors or helping their parents," said Social Minister (Mensos) Saifullah Yusuf after a dialogue with prospective students of the People's School at the State Administration Agency (LAN) Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday, April 22, reported by ANTARA.

The Minister of Social Affairs explained that direct outreach to crowded centers in Jakarta and its surroundings is one of the ways that the team of officers from the Ministry of Social Affairs together with strategic partners such as BPS and the Social Service will carry out in the near future.

In addition, the team will also visit the homes of children whose families are classified as poor and registered in the National Socio-Economic Data Single (DTSEN).

"This is part of President Prabowo's attention that children who drop out of school, have not been to school, do not go to school, have the potential to drop out of school can be reached through this people's school. That's the point," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Ministry of Social Affairs announced that for the time being, it had reached 77 children who met the criteria as prospective students of the People's School. 29 children were found while on the street.

The dozens of children are currently undergoing the process of verifying the completeness of data to be delivered to the People's School students.

The Minister of Social Affairs said that the verification and outreach process was targeted to be completed as soon as possible so that children could follow the learning-teaching activities in the new school year in mid-July.

"There are 10 points prepared to be People's Schools in Jakarta and its surroundings that will accommodate them," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

In this case, the government has prepared 10 pilot People's Schools that utilize assets of government buildings in the Jakarta region and the capital's buffer areas that have been declared eligible by the Ministry of Public Works (PU).

"These ten points can accommodate no less than 1,000 students. We are working together with LAN, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Agriculture, BNN, to utilize the Tagana Center in Hambalang," he said.

People's Schools are one of President Prabowo Subianto's priority programs to provide free and quality education for children from families with the lowest level of welfare (Desil 1-4) in the National Socio-Economic Single Data (DTSEN).

This program is designed as an integrated poverty alleviation model because it combines various government flagship programs, such as Free Health Check (CKG), Free Nutritious Meal (MBG), PBI-JK health insurance, Red and White Village/Village Cooperative, and the 3 Million House Program, for student beneficiary families.

Kemensos as the technical organizer reported that currently there are 166 pilot People's Schools scattered in 38 provinces, with a capacity of 15,900 students, supported by 2,400 teachers and more than 4,000 education personnel at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels or equivalent.

Furthermore, there are 101 permanent People's Schools built by the government this year. The project is part of the government's big target to build a total of 500 permanent People's Schools by 2029.