President Distributes KIP to Manokwari Residents

Manokwari, Papua (Antara Bali) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) symbolically distributed Indonesia Smart Cards (KIP) to the residents of Manokwari district in Papua province on Monday.

"With these cards, I hope that the children here will not drop out of schools as the government supports them," President Jokowi remarked while handing out the KIP.

The president noted that the card holders will each receive Rp450 thousand for elementary school education, Rp750 thousand for junior high school, and Rp1 million for senior high school per year.

He affirmed that the KIP will guarantee that all school-aged children from disadvantaged families will receive financial assistance for education until they complete high school or vocational school.

This program will gradually expand to reach as many as 24 million school-aged children, including those with social welfare problems and school-aged children from disadvantaged families who were previously not covered.

The KIP will also cover school-aged children not enrolled in schools such as street children, child laborers, orphans, and the disabled.

Besides distributing the KIP, the head of state also symbolically handed out Healthy Indonesia Cards (KIS) and Prosperous Family Cards (KKS).

The KIS will guarantee the provision of healthcare services to the disadvantaged as implemented through the National Health Insurance (JKN), which comes under BPJS Health.

The range of participants will be gradually increased to include those with social welfare problems and the infants of Premium Assistance Beneficiaries (PBI), who are currently not covered.

The KIS provide additional benefits, preventive, promotional, and early detection services that will be integrated and implemented in a more intensive manner.

The KIS aim to ensure that irrespective of the social status of the participants, there is no bias in offering health service facilities to them. (WDY)