Ministry Of Religion Realizes Budget Of Up To IDR 2 Trillion For Handling The COVID-19 Pandemic

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion has reallocated the budget from several programs in 2021 with a value of almost IDR 2 trillion to help deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The government is very serious in handling the pandemic. Ministry budgets, including those at the Ministry of Religion, have been reallocated for that. We have almost IDR 2 trillion", said Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas in a written statement in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Monday, August 2.

He said the budget reallocation for handling the pandemic was carried out in several stages. In the first phase, around IDR 483.54 billion of the Ministry of Religion's budget was reallocated in the context of implementing the vaccination program.

The second stage is around IDR 712.78 billion to contribute to the National Economic Recovery (PEN). The third phase is around IDR 385.46 billion to support the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Currently, we are in the process of reallocating the fourth phase which is also to ensure the success of the implementation of PPKM with a budget reallocation of IDR 399.91 billion", he said.

The reallocation of such a large budget, he said, was a form of the Ministry of Religion's commitment in handling the pandemic.

The Ministry of Religion also made other affirmations, for example in the form of a policy to reduce the single tuition fee (UKT) for State Religious University (PTKN) students.

In addition, assisting in handling COVID-19 for Islamic boarding schools, collaborating with Baznas in vaccinating kiai and santri, as well as rolling out a free halal certification program for micro and small business actors.

To ensure education in madrasas continues, the Ministry of Religion has also made several affirmations on strengthening digital learning.

He gave an example of the preparation of a madrasa affirmation assistance budget of up to IDR 399.9 billion which was implemented through the Realizing Education's Promise-Madrasah Education Quality Reform program.

This budget is allocated for 2,666 madrasas and can be used to strengthen the digitalization of madrasas.

"So the total budget for the Ministry of Religion that has been reallocated to jointly deal with the pandemic has reached IDR 1.981 trillion", he said.