Anies Promises Subsidy Assistance For High Education Fees

Presidential candidate number one in the 2024 General Election Anies Baswedan received "change coin" assistance as a symbol of the joint struggle of North Jakarta residents / ANTARA

JAKARTA - Presidential candidate number one in the 2024 General Election Anies Baswedan promised subsidy assistance to facilitate higher education costs for the poor in Indonesia if elected president.

"Indonesia today is different from countries like America that use the concept of'student loan'. Today, many Indonesians must be helped so that when they graduate they do not have a large debt supply," said Anies in Kampung Muka Ancol, Pademangan, North Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, January 29.

Anies said that the assistance was not with a "student loan", because the poor who got a job with a small salary could find it difficult to pay off their entire education debt from the beginning of college to graduate.

"Just graduated as a journalist, it's difficult (to pay off the student loan). When will it be paid?" said Anies.

Regarding the implementation of the "student loan" in Indonesia, Anies views that this is a symptom that arises from the allocation of the education budget from the government which has not been representative of the need for higher education in organizing teaching and learning activities.

So, the solution offered by Anies is to make the cost of organizing teaching and learning activities more affordable through budget interventions from the government.

That way, the burden on universities, the burden on higher education institutions and the burden on parents does not grow.

Anies reflected on the problems at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) which his students demonstrated for cooperating with non-bank financial institutions (LKBB) so that students who were in arrears could pay their tuition fees.

"In my opinion, the solution must be at the root of the problem. The root of the problem is the state's commitment to investing in education," said Anies.

The Anies-Muhaimin Iskandar pair in their vision-mission promised to increase their education subsidies so that tuition fees could be reduced by at least one-third of what is currently being worn.

Anies said that higher education assistance for the poor who are completing higher education studies is a form of state investment in education.

Anies has not specified how much the costs will be budgeted to provide higher education assistance in Ancol, but he once said that the fundamental budget could be completed first before starting to build a new State Capital (IKN).

"But has our basic business been resolved today? Apparently, there is a budget allocation of Rp400 trillion there (IKN). Imagine if Rp400 trillion was for honorary teachers, to build schools, for tuition fees, it could be cheaper because subsidies are allocated," said Anies in Bengkulu, Wednesday (6/12/2023).

Anies assessed that the benefits of allocating investment to subsidize the cost of education will be felt by the state in a long time.

When the students and students start to work productively, they will improve the economy and bring in new income for the country from the tax sector.