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esponding to a report by the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), which said the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) education allowance program was still missing its target, the city administration vows to revamp the program.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said on Tuesday that he acknowledged
several problems with the program, such as illegal levies and cards being distributed to ineligible
students.

'€œSome schools even refuse to disclose the names of the recipients,'€ he said.

Ahok said some officials had also allegedly pocketed funds that were supposed to be distributed to eligible students.

'€œThat'€™s why we want to announce the names, so the education committee can keep track of the recipients and submit accurate information to the Education Agency,'€ he said.

The ICW previously released a report on the implementation of the KJP through a Citizen Report Card (CRC), using qualitative and quantitative methods.

The research used 1,000 respondents, comprising 650 parents of KJP recipients and 350 parents of underprivileged students who did not have access to the fund, from Feb. 3 to March 17.

The ICW reported that 19.3 percent of the respondents felt the wrong students benefitted from the program while 2.4 percent of the recipients reported that they were asked to pay a levy of Rp 50,000 (US$4.40) when acquiring the card.

The cards, which are actually a bank DKI ATM card, contain Rp 240,000 for high school students, Rp 210,000 for junior high school students and Rp 180,000 for elementary school students. The funds can be withdrawn every three months for students to pay for school needs like bags, text books, shoes and extra curricular programs.

One of the illegal levy cases that was revealed was in SMKN 58, where students reported that they were asked to pay Rp 50,000 in order to get the KJP cards in January.

The headmaster did not deny the practice but he said the fee was not mandatory and the money had been returned to the students.

Ahok said the Education Agency would cooperate with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and ICW to find the right method to monitor the KJP.

Ahok said he also considered placing underprivileged students in boarding schools, so they would have a better educational environment.

Ahok said it would be beneficial to students who lived in small houses within densely populated areas such as Johar Baru, Central Jakarta, for example, to have a better study environment.

Education Agency head Lasro Marbun said the report from ICW would be used as an reference point to revamp the program.

'€œWe have around 500 school superintendents in each district. They will monitor the data we receive and the facts we find on the field,'€ he said, adding that he would also re-examine the new proposals regarding KJP recipients.

Lasro said the administration allocated Rp 1.5 trillion for the program this year, almost double compared to last year.

He said he called on students and parents to use the money wisely as it was difficult to monitor.

'€œIt is difficult for us to monitor 669,000 students spending a total of Rp 778 billion,'€ he said.

The recipients must report their expenditures, including providing receipts for items they purchase.