Social Affairs Minister: People's School Students Show Significant Development in Attitudes and Optimism

Tangerang — Indonesia’s Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf has revealed that after six months of study, students at People’s Schools (Sekolah Rakyat) have experienced significant development, including weight gain, improved discipline, greater confidence and strong optimism about their futures.

“Their faces today show optimism in pursuing their future dreams. It is vastly different from when they first arrived. This can be seen in their performance before teachers today. Many parents have even reported positive developments in their children,” said Minister Yusuf at a breaking-of-fast gathering with teachers and students of People’s Schools held at ICE BSD Tangerang on Friday.

He noted that when students first entered the People’s Schools, they came from diverse backgrounds with various challenges. Furthermore, student admission to the People’s Schools differs from conventional schools, requiring only administrative documentation.

However, with President Prabowo’s commitment to the People’s Schools programme, various challenges over the six-month period have been overcome, though improvements will continue.

“Today, we see students able to present confidently with speeches in Mandarin, English and Arabic. This is certainly an extraordinary achievement,” he stated.

He also noted that People’s Schools face diverse challenges, ranging from varying student abilities to teacher resource requirements.

“Some students are nine years old and still in primary school year one, whilst others are 15 and just entering junior secondary school year one. Some have experienced school interruptions lasting one to two years,” he explained.

For this reason, the Ministry of Social Affairs spent two days gathering all People’s Schools teachers for capacity-building programmes, which concluded with a breaking-of-fast gathering.

“The primary objective of this programme is to ensure that graduates of People’s Schools become resilient, skilled, principled and intelligent citizens,” he said.

Currently, People’s Schools have been operating for more than six months at 166 locations, accommodating nearly 16,000 students.