Education scheme to benefit 200,000 villagers

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

About 200,000 people in rural areas across the country will benefit from a Rp 50 billion government scheme providing basic literacy and other vocational training courses over a six-month period.

The education scheme is one component of government programs valued at Rp 2.2 trillion aimed at compensating low-income earners who are worst affected by the recent fuel price hikes.

Fasli Djalal, director general of informal and youth education at the Ministry of National Education, said the scheme will involve 400 community learning centers, 170,000 illiterate people and 16,000 vocational tutors in 360 regencies and municipalities.

The program aims to assist those pursuing education or keen to improve their practical skills through informal learning centers, he said.

Out of the Rp 2.2 trillion allocation from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Education received Rp 673 billion, Rp 50 billion of which has been allotted to the scheme.

It was not clear whether the remaining Rp 623 billion has been channeled to programs intended to assist the poor.

All the beneficiaries were proposed by local administrations after conducting a selection process of all prospective recipients.

Under the program, each participant in literacy courses will receive between Rp 60,000 to Rp 120,000 for the period of six months, while vocational tutors will be given Rp 600,000 each.

Community learning centers run by non-governmental organizations, private individuals or Islamic boarding schools, will each receive Rp 50 million from the scheme.

The compensation funds will be distributed between Dec. 3 and Dec. 31.

Fasli said the program is not only aimed at improving the education levels of poor people, including early school leavers, but their practical skills as well, so they will be able to live independently in the future.

"We should empower them to be independent," he remarked.

He said his ministry had established teams to supervise implementation of the scheme and prevent any possible corruption of funds.

The teams include local education officials and activists from non-governmental organizations, including the Central Independent Monitoring Unit (CIMU) formed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Fasli said.

He also called on the public to report any possible irregularities or corruption related to the scheme.

Fasli said every beneficiary organization would be made accountable for the funds received.

The government came under enormous criticism for corruption and irregularities during execution of the Habibie administration's Social Safety Net programs, involving trillions of rupiah.

The programs were introduced by former president B.J. Habibie in 1998 to help low income earners survive the devastating economic crisis that began in July 1997.