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ollowing the government's plan to raise the price of subsidized fuel, the Education and Culture Ministry is set to receive Rp 6.09 trillion (US$ 620.79 million) of additional budget to provide scholarships for students affected by the fuel price hike.

While deliberating the revised 2013 state budget (APBN-P) with the House of Representative's Commission X overseeing education and sports, Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh said that the ministry was planning to allocate Rp 6.03 trillion of the scholarship for the poor program (BSM) and Rp 53.4 billion for 'Bidik Misi', a university scholarship for underprivileged students.

'The budget for both BSM and Bidik Misi is now only 4.3 percent (Rp 4 trillion) from the ministry's budget of Rp 73 trillion. The additional budget would ensure these program's sustainability,' Nuh said.

According to Nuh, the current BSM program only covers 5.9 million students from elementary, junior high and senior high schools. The ministry was planning to increase the number of students to 12.6 million following the additional budget approval, Nuh said.

The ministry said that the annual expenditure of an elementary school student was Rp 910,000, while junior high and senior high school students annually spent Rp 1.39 million and Rp 1.66 million, respectively, for their education.

Nuh said that the ministry would also increase the amount of money given to elementary school students eligible for the program from Rp 360,000 to Rp 450,000 per student.

Junior high school students will get Rp 750,000 from Rp 560,000 per student, while senior high school students will get Rp 1 million each.

'The amounts are fixed and students who are eligible to receive the scholarships will continuously receive the money until they graduate from senior high school,' Nuh said.

'However, only for this year, we will allocate additional budget of Rp 200,000 for students who are eligible for the program,' Nuh said. 'This means elementary school students, for instance, would receive Rp 650,000, which covers more than half of their annual expenditure,' he said.

Nuh said that students who deserved the scholarship programs were those from poor families, as determined by the National Team for Alleviating Poverty [TNP2K].

Zulfadli, member of the House of Representatives Commission X overseeing education and sports said that the ministry should focus on providing scholarships for senior high school students, as the government had provided Schools Operational Assistance [BOS] for elementary and junior high schools.

Meanwhile, another member of the commission, Rohmani, said that the compensation budget could help to improve educational facilities.

'The compensation budget should also be used to ensure that all schools are equipped with enough facilities, including classrooms and libraries,' Rohmani said.

As previously reported, the government is planning to increase the subsidized fuel price from the existing Rp 4,500 to Rp 6,500.