Cool! Minister Of Religion Yaqut Prepares IDR 399.9 Billion For Assistance For 2,666 Madrasas, In The Form Of Cash

Director General of Islamic Education, Ministry of Religion, M. Ali Ramdhani. (PHOTO ANTARA/HO-Kemenag)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) has prepared a madrasah affirmation assistance budget of Rp399.9 billion which is implemented through the Realizing Education's Promise Madrasah Education Quality Reform program for 2,666 madrasas.

"This year we have prepared affirmative support for 2,666 madrasas, each receiving Rp. 150 million. The total is Rp. 399.9 billion," said Director General of Islamic Education at the Ministry of Religion M. Ali Ramdhani in a written statement received in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, July 30.

Assistance is given to madrasas that have implemented the Madrasah Self Evaluation (EDM) system and the e-RKAM system (Electronic-based Madrasah Work Plan and Budget) which were trained in 2020 and began to be applied this year.

This assistance will be provided in cash. Nevertheless, said M Ali Ramdhani, its use must be based on the urgent needs of the madrasa which are formulated based on the results of the EDM and in accordance with the established technical guidelines.

Meanwhile, the Director of Curriculum, Facilities, Institutions, and Student Affairs (KSKK) for Madrasahs at the Ministry of Religion, M. Isom Yusqi, said that the assistance could be used to strengthen the digitalization of madrasas.

In addition, it can also improve the quality of sanitation, and other program needs in order to support the quality of learning in madrasas.

"The technical guidelines for distributing aid have been completed. God willing, from September the aid will begin to be distributed," he said.

He admitted that the provision of affirmation assistance had not yet been able to target all madrasah, due to budget constraints at the Ministry of Religion and hoped that local governments would also assist and collaborate in improving the quality of education.

"We hope that the local government can also allocate allocation funds, especially to help madrasa students who are also local children. We have implemented the e-RKAM system as an e-planning and e-budgeting madrasah platform, so that accountability for reporting aid can be guaranteed, " he said.

The madrasa digitalization program, he said, has been carried out since 2019. A number of programs have been carried out, including revising the technical guidelines for the relaxation of the use of BOS funds so that they can be used to support the online learning system.

Another effort is to provide assistance in the procurement of servers and CBT (Computer Based-Test) Computer Networks for all levels, be it madrasah aliyah, tsanawiyah or ibtidayyah.

"The budget for this assistance is indeed not much, it is very limited. This year the quota for recipients of this assistance is 200 Madrasah Aliyah, 250," said M. Isom Yusqi.