T

he city administration is looking to extend its Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) education financial assistance program to cardholders who are accepted into public universities.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said that he wanted KJP recipients to be able to continue to use the program if they went to college.

'€œMany students fail to try as they assume that they cannot continue their studies beyond high school. The [planned] KJP [extension] program will encourage these students to study harder,'€ he said.

Ahok said that he wanted the extension program to help parents so that they would, in turn, be able to allocate money for the education of their younger children.

'€œTheir old KJP cards will be reloaded. It is different from a scholarship,'€ he said.

Ahok said that high school graduates who are accepted into public universities will be eligible for the proposed extension. '€œThis may mean that not all recipients will be from Jakarta,'€ he said.

Currently, the city administration funds 611,000 KJP holders from elementary to senior high school at a cost allocation of Rp 2.6 trillion (US$187.2 million).

As school tuition is free in Jakarta, the fund is used to fulfill other school needs such as uniforms, books, bags, transportation and snacks.

Ahok recently allowed the KJP fund to be used to purchase beef.

Ahok said that he and his subordinates were still calculating the amount of funds needed for the program. '€œI estimate Rp 1.5 million per month. This means around Rp 18 million per year per student,'€ he said.

Jakarta Education Agency head Sopan Adrianto said that his agency was in the midst of formulating the method for the new program as well as calculating the amount of funds per student.

'€œWe are still considering what will be funded by the program, for example, whether funds will be in the form of pocket money or tuition fees,'€ he said.

Subsequently, the agency had yet to finalize an estimate of the total funds needed for the program. '€œIf the current fund is enough, we won'€™t need to propose additional funds in the budget revision,'€ he said.

Sopan said that, after graduation, his agency would record the names of all KJP holders who are accepted into public universities.

He said that he was in the process of explaining the programs to the high school students so that they had additional encouragement to study.

He said that existing KJP holders should re-register themselves so that their KJP cards could be reloaded.

Education activist Retno Lisyarti said that she applauds the extension of the program to university level.

Retno said, however, that it was a shame that it was only for high school graduates accepted into public universities.

She added that poor students should be helped regardless of whether they were accepted into public or private universities.

Besides, students accepted into public universities are usually from rich families because they can afford private tutors and extra classes, she said, adding that they were also well-equipped and well-nourished.