Internet Quota and Tuition Fee Assistance to Be Disbursed Next Month
The government has allocated Rp 3 trillion (US$209.32 million) for the internet quota subsidy, which will distributed to 38.1 million elementary, high school and university students, teachers and lecturers.
By
Ester Lince Napitupulu
·4 minutes read
DOKUMENTASI HUMAS KEMDIKBUDRISTEK
Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani, Minister of Education and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim, and Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas at the inauguration of the Advanced Internet Data Quota Assistance and 2021 Single Tuition Fee/UKT Assistance, Wednesday (4/8/2021).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The government will resume the disbursement of internet data quota and tuition fee assistance to support learning activities for the 2021/2022 academic year, which are still hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The educational subsidies will be disbursed from September to November to students, teachers and lecturers under the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The government has allocated Rp 3 trillion (US$209.32 million) for the internet quota subsidy, which will distributed to 38.1 million elementary, high school and university students, teachers and lecturers, while the tuition fee (UKT) subsidy for the odd semester of 2021 will amount to Rp 745.2 billion and will be given to 310,508 students under the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The assistance will be given to registered schools and universities.
Speaking during at a ceremony to mark to the resumption of internet data and tuition fee subsidies in Jakarta on Wednesday (4/8/2021), the finance minister said both students and educators faced difficulties conducting long-distance learning amid the pandemic. Due to this reasons, the government decided to resume the distribution of internet data quota and tuition fees, as well as wage subsidies, in order reduce the people’s burden, she added.
The provision of internet data quota and tuition fee subsidies, which began in 2020, is intended to reduce the burden on the people by financing their children’s education.
"The assistance is intended to lighten the economic burden and help the continuity of education in the new academic year,” the finance minister said, adding that due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, the government decided to resume the internet data quota and tuition fee subsidies to support long-distance learning.
Meanwhile, Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim said that for the internet data quota assistance, kindergarten students would receive free internet data quota of 7 gigabytes (GB) per month, students in primary to secondary schools 10 GB and teachers 12 GB each. As for university students and lecturers, the free internet data quota will amount to 15 GB per month.
“The assistance will be given to registered schools and universities, because the disbursement of the assistance will be based on the database of the educational system from early education to universities," Nadiem said.
Kompas/Totok Wijayanto
An elementary school student participates in online distance learning from her home in the Bintaro area, South Tangerang, Banten, Tuesday (3/8/2021). The improvement in telecommunications infrastructure has made the distance teaching system run smoothly.
General quota
All the internet data quota assistance to be provided this year is general data quota, which can be used to access all websites and applications, except those blocked by the Communications and Information Ministry, as well as the education ministry’s website http://kuota-belajar.kemdikbud.go.id.
“Internet data quota assistance is distributed between the 11th and 15th of September, October and November. The data packages will expire within 30 days from the time it is received," Nadiem said.
Regarding the UKT student tuition fee assistance, Nadiem asked regional heads and private universities to keep a record of students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure they would not drop out of school. The assistance will be given according to the UKT tuition fees or a maximum of Rp 2.4 million per student.
“If the UKT is bigger, we ask the universities to consider providing assistance to students, depending on their [economic] condition. It could be in the form of a discount, allowing payments in installments or abolishing fees altogether. I really hope the students who are in a difficult situation right now will not drop out. There will be sanctions for universities that do not help students get assistance,” Nadiem said.
Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas welcomed the government’s decision to resume the disbursement of internet date quota and UKT assistance for students and teachers. As many as 10 million kindergarten, primary and high school students and 1.6 million university students under the Religious Affairs Ministry will receive internet data quota assistance.
"Amid the community\'s economic downturn and the limitations of long-distance learning infrastructure, this policy demonstrates the government\'s commitment to ensuring that the learning process continues during the pandemic. The goal is to avoid learning loss and prevent students from dropping out of school or university,” Yaqut said.
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
