ADB gives scholarships

ADB gives scholarships

JAKARTA (JP): Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Tadao
Chino presented on Thursday scholarships to 79 students of the Al
Khairiyah Madrasah Tsanawiyah (Islamic Junior High School) in
Tegal Parang, South Jakarta, as a part of a social safety net in
the education sector.

Each student will receive Rp 240,000 (US$ 32) a year. The
school also receives a grant of Rp 4 million per year for two
years.

"Indonesia is a very great country. The scholarship is a chief
component of the social safety net to alleviate the crisis impact
funded by the ADB loan," Tadao said in his speech.

ADB finances the scholarship and school grant in 16 provinces
while the World Bank finances the other 10 provinces.

The Al Khairiyah Foundation runs two Madrasah Ibtidaiyah
(elementary school), a Madrasah Tsanawiyah (junior high school)
and a Madrasah Aliyah (senior high school).

A madrasah teaches the same curriculum as other schools as
required by the Ministry of National Education, in addition to
enriched Islamic studies.

The foundation also received 120 scholarships for elementary
school students of Rp 120,000 per year per student and a grant of
Rp 2 million. Meanwhile the senior high school students received
Rp 300,000 each per year and the school was allotted a grant of
Rp 10 million.

"The school grant is to be used to finance school operational
costs, but not any physical projects," said an officer of the
scholarship project, Faisal Siddik.

Director General for Elementary and Higher Education of the
Ministry of Education Indrajati Sidi told reporters that the
scholarship was intended to retain the student participation
levels following the economic crisis.

"So far we have retained the participation level of 70 percent
and we hope to pass the barrier by one or two more digits in the
near future," he said. "We also put a priority that more than 50
percent of the scholarship recipients are female students."

"We have covered scholarships for four million of the poorest
students from 131,000 schools throughout the country worth more
than Rp 1 trillion," he added.

Faisal said Indonesia scored among the best three countries in
managing the social safety net in education.

"The success was because of our transparency in managing the
project and also the involvement of the local community in
deciding which schools to receive the scholarship and grant," he
said. (05)