"Today, some 63 percent of the KIP cards have been distributed to schools. So it has been included in the basic educational data sent to Jakarta," the minister said at the state palace on Thursday.
Minister Muhadjir noted that some 11 million KIP cards had been distributed across the country. The banks managing funds for the KIP scheme are still performing verification processes for the disbursal of the funds.
Underprivileged students who have not yet been addressed in the Indonesia Smart Card scheme for the 2016 academic year will be temporarily given assistance through direct distribution to schools until 2017.
"For now, they only receive financial assistance. Next year, the underprivileged students will receive their KIP cards," he remarked.
On the occasion of the meeting with the president, the minister also reported the cuts to the education budget by his ministry. The official trip budget of Rp7 trillion was reduced to Rp3 trillion, and the budget for other supporting activities, such as courses to upgrade teachers skills, was also slashed.
"We have diverted the budget to priority programs, including the improvement of the infrastructure in schools.
"We also reported efforts to repair or rehabilitate 152 thousand totally or heavily damaged schools. Next year, we plan to rehabilitate 50 thousand schools," he added.(WDY)
