Bahlil Criticises LPDP: Do Not Impose TOEFL 800 Requirement, That Only Benefits the Wealthy

Sukabumi — Golkar party chairman Bahlil Lahadalia has criticised the Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP) for frequently imposing high TOEFL English language requirements on scholarship applicants.

Bahlil argued that the TOEFL requirements set by LPDP have only benefited wealthy families rather than the poor and Islamic boarding school (pesantren) students.

“Don’t impose requirements like TOEFL 700 or 800 — those only benefit wealthy families,” Bahlil said when met at Azzainiyyah Islamic Boarding School in Sukabumi, West Java, on Sunday evening.

Golkar is pushing for LPDP to allocate scholarship quotas proportionally to pesantren students, not exclusively to conventional school pupils.

“It’s not certain that prestigious conventional schools today produce higher-quality graduates than pesantren. It’s not certain,” he said.

“I am among those who believe that the type of school does not guarantee a person’s quality. What guarantees a person’s quality is the individual themselves,” Bahlil added.

However, Bahlil claimed that LPDP has consistently overlooked pesantren students in its scholarship programmes.

“I believe we must continue raising this issue so that a good decision can be made. They are also Indonesia’s children,” he said.