Kemendikbudristek Allocates IDR 13.49 Trillion For 18.59 Million PIP Students

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) has allocated a budget of around Rp. 13.49 trillion for the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP) next year, targeting more than 18.59 million students.

"Next year's PIP allocation will be more than Rp13.49 trillion," said Secretary General (Sekjen) of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Suharti in a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission X of the DPR as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, September 26.

Suharti explained that PIP is assistance from the government which is used for personal education costs or the needs of students, from elementary to high school levels.

In detail, PIP recipients have criteria aged six to 21 years who come from poor or vulnerable families to help with personal education costs.

Furthermore, another criterion for PIP recipients, are students who are still in school and active, have a Smart Indonesia Card, are registered with the Dapodik and the names of registered students as recipients on the official website of the Ministry of Education and Culture's PIP.

The Ministry of Education and Culture determines that underprivileged students are entitled to receive PIP through data sources from Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS) and data on the Acceleration of the Elimination of Extreme Poverty (P3KE).

Suharti said schools also have the opportunity to submit the names of students from vulnerable and poor families who are entitled to receive PIP, but the name must have been verified by the local education office.

Students at the SD/SDLB/Paket A level get IDR 450 thousand per year, specifically for new students and final class students get IDR 225 thousand, while the SMP/SMPLB/Paket B level receives IDR 750 thousand per year with new students and final class students getting IDR 375 thousand.

Meanwhile, for next year, SMA/SMK/SMALB/Paket C students will get IDR 1.8 million per year whose value will increase compared to the previous years of IDR 1 million per year.

For new students and final classes at the SMA/SMK level, it was also given IDR 900 thousand per year whose value increased from the previous year's IDR 500 thousand.

"The PIP allocation for next year is increased, especially for high school and vocational school level targets," he said.