Central Sulawesi Strengthens Equitable Access to Education through Berani Cerdas Programme
Palu (ANTARA) - The Central Sulawesi Provincial Government (Sulteng) continues to strengthen equitable access to education in order to enhance the quality of human resources (HR) through the priority Berani Cerdas programme.
The Head of the Central Sulawesi Education Office, Firmanza, in Palu on Tuesday, explained that this programme does not only focus on providing scholarships to university students but also encompasses various strategic interventions to improve the overall quality of education.
“Berani Cerdas is not just about providing scholarships to university students, but also includes regional school operational assistance (BOSDA), uniform aid for underprivileged students, and support for industrial work practice for vocational school students,” said Enis.
He explained that in the previous year, the Provincial Government had distributed school operational assistance of around Rp40 billion to 463 public and private schools. In addition, uniform assistance for students from low-income families was also realised at around Rp6 billion.
In the vocational education sector, he said, the government also provides support for the implementation of industrial work practice (prakerin) for vocational school students with a budget of around Rp27 billion. However, this year the allocation will be focused on certain majors according to priority needs.
The Provincial Government of Central Sulawesi also pays attention to improving the quality of educators through S2 education scholarships for teachers.
“Then the largest is the provision of scholarships to around 23,568 beneficiaries from 400 higher education institutions,” he said.
He also revealed that this year the scholarship distribution mechanism has undergone changes. Previously, aid was channelled directly to students, but now payments are made through the higher education institutions.
He acknowledged that previously several problems were found, such as inactive students still receiving aid, or recipients who had graduated but continued to receive scholarships.
“This policy is implemented to ensure targeting accuracy. There are three main requirements, namely that students must still be active, have a minimum GPA of 3.00 for social majors and 2.75 for exact sciences, and not receive scholarships from other parties,” he said.
He added that the Provincial Government of Central Sulawesi will also open scholarship programmes for S2, S3 levels, and specialist medical education with limited quotas, around 100 people for S2, 20 people for S3, and 10 people for specialist doctors.