City Council approves new scholarship promotion drive

City Council approves new scholarship promotion drive

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has approved a new regulation
governing scholarships given to primary, junior high school,
senior high school and university students. The funds will come
from the city budget and from the Islamic Alms coordination body
(Bazis), a semi-governmental agency.

Approval was given in a session held yesterday to change the
old provincial regulation no. 5/1957 in which only municipal
employees and high school and university students were eligible
for the scholarship.

According to governor Surjadi Soedirja, a total of 10,067
people since 1952 have received municipal scholarships including
1,800 in the school year of 1994/1995. The city has provided Rp
229 million (US$105,142.33) and the Bazis Rp 480 million.

Commission A, which oversees government affairs, and
Commission E, handling people's welfare, presented their
proposals in the yesterday's session.

Commission A has approved giving more authority to Bazis,
which originally acted only as a financial source to the Jakarta
Scholarship Foundation, to organize its own scholarship fund, to
select students and to establish its scholarship panel.

The commission also urged the city administration to cooperate
with private companies and individual parties to contribute funds
for the program through the foundation as donations will not
provide enough to accommodate the thousands of students striving
for higher education.

Commission E stressed that the foundation should be fair in
managing and allocating the fund and also in selecting candidates
for the scholarship as complaints have been raised by many with
respect to the programs.

"Complaints, such as slow payment and unfair selection, should
be followed by appropriate actions," said Laidin H. Sinaga from
commission E. (yns)