Ministry of Social Affairs: School of the People applicants require district head approval

The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) has emphasised that every applicant to the School of the People, including screening for the new academic year, must receive approval from the district head before being accepted as a student.

Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf stated during a meeting following a dialogue and iftar session with the Ministry of Social Affairs Press Forum (Forwasos) in Jakarta on Monday that the recruitment process for new School of the People students is currently underway and is conducted in layers, starting from assessment through to verification and final validation at the national level.

In the process of identifying prospective students, Kemensos involves hundreds of social support worker teams, particularly those from the Hope Family Programme (PKH), working alongside officials from the Department of Social Affairs (Dinsos) in each district.

“They have certainly received prior training to work consistently and professionally. The key point is that there must be no recommendations, no back-door dealings, and no payment arrangements. Because only families in the bottom two income deciles (Desil 1-2) who have undergone assessment can attend school here,” said the Minister.

“We need to ensure that the selection process runs transparently and reaches the right target; that is the objective,” the Minister said, adding that Kemensos will then conduct further verification and validation before final acceptance.

“If all requirements are met, the applicant will be officially appointed as a student of the School of the People,” he stated.

According to Kemensos data, 166 pilot School of the People sites have been established in 2025 with a capacity of nearly 16,000 students, supported by 2,400 teachers and more than 4,000 education staff across primary, secondary, and upper secondary levels or equivalent.

For the initial phase, the 166 pilot Schools of the People spread throughout Indonesia are still utilising facilities owned by Kemensos, the Labour Training Centres (BLK) of the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker), and facilities owned by local governments.

This year, the government is constructing 104 permanent School of the People buildings on land prepared by local governments. Each building is designed to accommodate up to 1,000 students at primary, secondary, and upper secondary levels.