JAKARTA - The Ministry of Social Affairs has distributed assistance worth Rp. 9 million to the family of a primary school student in Ngada Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), who died and allegedly ended his life due to family economic problems.
The assistance was given as a quick response from the government as well as an evaluation of the mechanism for data collection and distribution of social protection in the region.
Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf said this incident was a reminder that social assistance recipients were not merely seen as administrative figures, but actually reflected justice for vulnerable people.
"This is a material for joint evaluation. Don't let the data be seen only as numbers, but in it there is justice and a sense of justice," said the man who is familiarly called Gus Ipul, Thursday, February 5.
The Ministry of Social immediately sent an assessment team to Ngada to verify the social and economic conditions of the family as well as tracing the status of the assistance received.
From the initial data collection, the victim was recorded as a beneficiary of the Indonesia Smart Program (PIP). Meanwhile, the victim's grandparents are registered as regular social assistance recipients from the Ministry of Social Affairs. However, the assistance was stopped and was not received directly by the victim's mother.
The victim is known to live with his grandparents, while the mother, a single parent, works as a farmer and casual laborer to support five children.
As a follow-up, the Ministry of Social Affairs distributed social assistance of Rp. 5 million, food and nutrition assistance of Rp. 1.5 million, and clothing assistance of Rp. 2.5 million, so that the total assistance reached Rp. 9 million.
In addition, the government also ensures the continuity of the education of the victim's relatives through relevant social protection programs, including access to People's Schools.
According to Gus Ipul, this case shows that there are still gaps in updating social protection data, especially for children who move or are outside the family unit receiving assistance.
He emphasized that strengthening integrated data collection and expanding the scope of social protection, especially in vulnerable areas such as NTT, would be a priority so that similar incidents would not be repeated.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
