DPRD-DKI Provincial Government Investigate APBD So That KJP Is Not Removed To Run Free Schools

Deputy Chairman of the DKI Jakarta DPRD Ima Mahdiah (DOK dprdkijakarta)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta DPRD and the DKI Provincial Government are currently preparing a general budget policy and a temporary budget priority ceiling (KUA-PPAS) for the 2025 budget year APBD.

Deputy Chairman of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Ima Mahdiah, said that his party is currently fiddling with the allocation of the APBD draft next year to be able to run a free school program for private educational institutions in Jakarta.

Because, according to Ima, the DPRD and the DKI Provincial Government have agreed that the free school program will be implemented in the new school year 2025/2026. This is to reduce the number of school dropouts.

"Private schools are free, that must be a priority. Because many private schools, children can't afford it, so they ended up breaking up," Ima told reporters, Monday, October 14.

Previously, there was a discourse that the free school budget would be taken from the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) distribution budget. Thus, the education assistance program has the potential to be removed because it is diverted to free schools.

However, Ima said that his party was trying to keep KJP running, considering that the educational assistance program was still very much needed by students from the community who could not afford it.

Thus, temporary, executive and legislative solutions will apply to the central government so that the budget of the DKI Jakarta Education Office can be increased from the composition of the APBD.

"The Education Office gets 27 percent of the APBD. What will later be offered to the central government, can 27 percent of it be outside of the teacher's salaries? Because 27 percent of it, if teachers' salaries have been received, education problems in Jakarta will not be resolved. So that will be tried in the future, "explained Ima.

Ima said that the budget ceiling allocated for free schools reached Rp1.7 trillion. "Even if we add uniforms and books, we can add Rp700 billion," he added.

All factions in the DKI Jakarta DPRD are said to have approved that free schools be implemented by 2025. There is a special reason for the DPRD initially proposing the implementation of free schools.

So far, DPRDs often receive complaints from underprivileged families, ranging from cases of dropping out of school to their diplomas being detained by private schools because they have not paid their tuition fees.

Now, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is still reviewing the plan to implement free schools, especially private ones in Jakarta. The DKI Jakarta Education Office targets the study to be completed by the end of 2024.

For the record, not all private schools will be included in the free school program. The DKI Jakarta Education Office mapped more than 400 private schools grade A and B still use the education financing system they have implemented. Given, these schools have not received the distribution of education operational assistance funds (BOS).