DPRD Leader Urges Surabaya City Government To Disburse Scholarships For 13 Thousand High School / Vocational High School Students

Deputy Chairperson of the Surabaya DPRD Reni Astuti (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The leadership of the Surabaya City Council has urged the local city government to immediately disburse scholarships for 13 thousand high school/vocational/high school students with the same level as underprivileged, which includes Rp. 200 thousand per month and uniforms.

Deputy Chairperson of the DPRD Suraya Reni Astuti in Surabaya, Sunday, said that until entering the second quarter of 2022, the SMA/SMK/MA equivalent scholarships had not been realized.

"We encourage the City Government to immediately disburse SMA/SMK scholarships because the budget is already in the Surabaya 2022 APBD," he said as quoted by Antara, Sunday.

Reni said, if there are still high school / vocational students who have not been registered, the Surabaya City Government must register directly. "For those who have registered and have fulfilled (the criteria). So we encourage it to be immediately disbursed this month. This August it should have been disbursed," he said.

As for SMA/SMK students who have not registered for the Youth Tangguh Scholarship for SMA/SMK/MA equivalent due to certain conditions, the PKS legislator emphasized that the City Government could take steps to pick up the ball.

According to him, so that all children from poor families or entering low-income communities (MBR) can be helped, the financing mechanism can be changed from the previous scholarship to education assistance through the 2022 APBD Amendment.

"Budgeting through the social assistance budget as we proposed during the last period in 2017," said Reni.

For this reason, Reni requested that the City Government be proactive in targeting untouched SMA/SMK/MA students so that they can then be added to the Financial Budget Amendment (PAK) of the 2022 APBD.

"In PAK later, we can add approximately 25 thousand SMA/SMK children from MBR families, can be directly assisted by the City Government as long as MBR is registered, MBR data accuracy must also be corrected immediately so that data and facts are precise," said Reni.

Reni hopes that when this program can run, in 2023 it can be resumed.

"So it is no longer found, high school / vocational / MA age children drop out of school because they are constrained by costs and because of that, diplomas are delayed, cannot take exams, etc., as were the problems we received at the Surabaya DPRD," he said. .

Mayor of Surabaya Eri Cahyadi previously said that this scholarship program is to support scholarships that have been given by the central government and the East Java Provincial Government. He hopes that this scholarship can have a positive impact on the Surabaya area.

"Hopefully there will be no more youth in Surabaya who drop out of school or cannot continue their education," said Eri Cahyadi.*