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n a bid to improve the distribution of education allowances to underprivileged students, through the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) program, the Jakarta Education Agency has introduced a web-based KJP system.

The website, kjp.jakarta.go.id, was still in a trial mode and would be ready to be launched for public use in August, an official said.

During the soft launch on Friday, Jakarta Education Agency deputy head Sopan Adrianto said the introduction of the online system aimed to minimize drawbacks from the previous manual system.

'€œSince the introduction of the KJP program in 2013, we have received complaints and criticisms. We admitted the program had weaknesses in the implementation because, at the time, Pak Jokowi demanded that the program be launched immediately despite having so little time to prepare. We introduced the online system to answer the criticisms,'€ Sopan said at the Education Agency office in South Jakarta, referring to the then governor, now President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo. Jokowi launched the program in December 2012, less than two months after his inauguration in October, even though he was still using the 2012 revised city budget endorsed months before his arrival.

Among the complaints were some about the high number of ineligible recipients and other administrative malfunctions.

Sopan said during the 2013 to 2014 period, the agency recorded about 20,000 ineligible recipients of the program.

This year, the city administration allocated Rp 2.3 trillion for the KJP program, set to be distributed to 489,150 eligible recipients from different grades and schools. The number of recipients is evaluated every year and may also change.

Each eligible student is entitled to earn different amounts of monthly allowance, depending on the grade and the type of school. This year, the amount of monthly allowance varied from Rp 100,000 to Rp 200,000. Each recipient also gets a yearly allowance totaling Rp 500,000, which is expected to be transferred in July, when the new academic year starts. The allowance is transferred to the recipients through city-owned Bank DKI accounts.

Online KJP system unit head Nahdiana said that Jakarta residents can go to the website for various purposes related to the program.

'€œResidents can get all information regarding KJP, apply for the program and check the progress of the application. We will also publish relevant announcements on the website such as the list of recipients,'€ she said.

To accommodate complaints, the team also created features through which residents and recipients can lodge complaints or suggest alternative solutions.

'€œThe public can also assess the list of recipients so they can report if they found ineligible recipients. We provide a week for the public to report such violations,'€ she said.

Technical team coordinator Benny Chandra said they would need to train the team that would be responsible to handle the website. '€œI hope the team members will not be rotated so the training won'€™t be a waste,'€ he said, pointing out the team will consist of eight people.

The agency has allocated Rp 1.3 billion to develop the website. However, only Rp 500 million has been spent so far.