Yusuf, at the Presidential Palace complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, explained that the learning process had earlier begun at 63 Sekolah Rakyat schools on July 14. Meanwhile, the remaining 37 schools will begin the learning process by early August.
The total capacity of the 100 Sekolah Rakyat schools reaches more than 9,700 students, supported by more than 1,500 teachers and 2,000 school staff.
The minister added that his ministry is preparing to add more than 50 new schools, targeted to begin operations in September.
With these additions, the student capacity is expected to increase to more than 15,000, with a total of approximately 800 additional teachers. He stated that the admission and selection processes for these additional schools are still ongoing.
"These teachers were selected by the Teacher Selection Task Force led by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education," he noted.
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Earlier, the Ministry of Social Affairs stated that the total budget provided to support the education of each student within the Sekolah Rakyat program is Rp48 million (around US$2,928) per person per year.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Agus Jabo Priyono stated that students enrolled in the pilot schools of Sekolah Rakyat will move to permanent Sekolah Rakyat schools in 2026.
Sekolah Rakyat is part of the government's efforts to break the cycle of poverty in Indonesia, in line with Presidential Instruction Number 8 of 2025 on the Optimization of Poverty Alleviation and Extreme Poverty Eradication.
The program is targeted at children from poor and extremely poor families, in accordance with the National Socioeconomic Single Data (DTSEN).
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Translator: Fathur R, Mentari D, Raka A
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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