The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) acknowledges that one of problems in distributing the Indonesian Smart Card (KIP) is finding the Out-of-School Children (ATS). Special Staff of Policy Implementation Monitoring Section of Mendikbud, R Alpha Amirrachman, said that there were difficulties in finding the out-of-school children. If they registered in Dapodik (the Ministry’s education data center), they can easily be found, but if they are not then difficulties arise.
In addition, he explained, motivation is also a problem in bringing ATS back into the education system. He said that it requires assistance and a special approach to support the return of ATS to schools, both in formal and informal education.
Last year, the government was successful in distributing 60,000 KIP for ATS. Meanwhile in 2017, according to data from The National Team for The Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), there are 2.9 million ATS. More than 500,000 have already obtained KIP and use this to take course, school, or other study activities. However, of this 2.9 million, Kemendikbud has to keep verifying based on name and address as well as year of birth.
He added that the government requests all sections of the community to pay special attention to supporting ATS. President Jokowi encourages out-of-school children to return to school and views KIP’s function as being meaningless if recipients of KIP are not registered in Dapodik. Alpha stated that the government is attempting to open access as widely as possible to bring ATS back to study. He also expects the community to raise their social sensitivity toward ATS in their own environment in supporting them to return to their studies.
EDUCATION NEWS MONITORING SERVICE 