Mensos: Viral School Student Shoes Not from the Ministry of Social Affairs

Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf (left) and Head of Bakom Muhammad Qodari at a press conference at the Bakom RI office, Jakarta, Wednesday (6/5/2026). ANTARA/Fathur Rochman

JAKARTA - Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf clarified that the shoes for students of the People's School that had circulated on social media were a gift from the Governor of East Java and not a procurement from the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The Minister of Social Affairs explained about the viral content on social media which showed him and the Governor of East Java Khofifah Indar Parawansa handing out shoes for students of the People's School.

"Because the viral news yesterday was about the procurement of shoes at the People's School, but the photo was of me with Bu Khofifah handing over shoes for students at the People's School in Malang, East Java, where the shoes were a gift from the Governor of East Java for students at the People's School in East Java," said Saifullah as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 6.

The provision of shoes, he said, is part of a program owned by the East Java Provincial Government.

"It's not a shoe from the Ministry of Social Affairs," added Saifullah.

The Minister of Social Affairs said that the procurement of goods for the People's School was carried out through the open auction mechanism. The determination of the budget was carried out with a gradual process involving the DPR RI for the discussion of the budget.

The considerations in the procurement include the number of students, the needs at each school, and the materials and quality to ensure that they meet the Domestic Component Level (TKDN).

In the procurement process, it was carried out through internal supervision by the Inspector General and from the external involving the Government Procurement Policy Agency (LKPP), the Attorney General's Office, the Police, and the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

"The process is like that and is carried out carefully, in fact, through the processes and stages as stipulated in the regulations," explained the Minister of Social Affairs.

Previously, the Minister of Social Affairs said that students at the People's School received four pairs of shoes, consisting of daily shoes, sports shoes, daily uniform shoes (PDH), and field uniform shoes (PDL).

Based on the realization data, the price of PDL student shoes has a ceiling of Rp700,000 with an auction realization price of Rp640,000.

Meanwhile, for daily shoes for SMP and SMA levels, the realized price is IDR 300,000 from the ceiling of IDR 500,000, and for elementary school levels it is IDR 250,000.