Musi Banyuasin Regency Proposes Land for 'Sekolah Rakyat' Programme
The Ministry of Social Affairs has received a land proposal for the construction of a Sekolah Rakyat (People’s School) from the Musi Banyuasin Regency Government, alongside data proposing economic stimulus aid for communities affected by disasters from the East Aceh Regency Government. The proposals were presented during an audience with Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf, known as Gus Ipul, at the Ministry of Social Affairs office on Tuesday (4/8/2026).
Musi Banyuasin Deputy Regent Abdul Rohman Husen stated that the local government is committed to supporting the implementation of Sekolah Rakyat as part of efforts to expand access to education for the community. “This has been our determination. We have long wanted to build free education. Hopefully, this aspiration can be realised through Sekolah Rakyat. We are ready to support the success of this programme,” said Abdul Rohman.
Responding to this, Gus Ipul said the land proposal from Musi Banyuasin Regency would be followed up with the Ministry of Public Works through a checking and verification process in accordance with established requirements. “The land proposal from Musi Banyuasin Regency will be immediately coordinated with the Ministry of Public Works. If all requirements align with the President’s directives, hopefully, gradually each regency and city will have one permanent Sekolah Rakyat building capable of accommodating at least 2,000 students at the primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary levels,” said Gus Ipul.
He explained that Sekolah Rakyat is intended for children from poor and extremely poor families, particularly those who are not in school, have dropped out, or are at risk of dropping out. According to Gus Ipul, to date more than 15,000 students have participated in the learning process at Sekolah Rakyat. This year, the government is adding a quota of approximately 30,000 students, so that by 2027 the number of learners is targeted to reach more than 45,000 students. If the construction of Sekolah Rakyat proceeds according to plan, the government is targeting a student admission capacity exceeding 100,000 by 2027, increasing to more than 150,000 the following year, and eventually reaching over 500,000 students by 2029-2030. “This programme is expected to be part of the effort to break the chain of poverty through education,” said Gus Ipul.
In the same audience, East Aceh Regent Usman Al-Farlaky submitted data proposing a second wave of economic stimulus aid for communities affected by disasters. Previously, around 7,000 proposals in the first wave had entered the distribution process, while approximately 16,000 other proposals were still being processed. “We hope that the proposals from East Aceh currently being processed can be received promptly by the entitled community members,” said Usman.
Gus Ipul explained that all aid proposals are processed based on data that has undergone tiered verification stages, from the local government, relevant apparatus, task forces, the Central Statistics Agency, to the Ministry of Finance. “The main basis for aid distribution is data. Data from the regions is verified and processed across ministries before being designated as aid recipients,” he said. He stressed that aid is distributed directly to beneficiaries through Himbara banks or PT Pos Indonesia, without going through the local government or the Ministry of Social Affairs. “Aid is not distributed through the regent or the local government. Once the entire verification process is complete, aid is directly received by the community through Himbara banks or PT Pos Indonesia,” he asserted. Gus Ipul added that aid proposals are processed in stages. For the Aceh and Sumatra regions, the government is currently processing the ninth and tenth distribution phases, while the data submitted by the East Aceh Regency Government is part of the tenth phase proposals. He expressed hope that coordination between the central and local governments continues so that every proposal meeting the requirements can be processed according to the applicable mechanism and aid is distributed to the entitled community.