After talks of the plan surfaced in January, Prabowo officially announced late last month that the government would open 200 Sekolah Rakyat for students from families in the lowest income brackets across the country. It would be free of any cost, use a boarding school format and include elementary, junior and senior high school education.

So far, 53 Sekolah Rakyat are planned to open for this upcoming school year in July, with the remaining 147 to follow later. Around 1,000 students are expected to enroll at each school, which will utilize either buildings owned by the Social Affairs Ministry or halls run by regional administrations.

Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf, who is in charge of the program, is still finalizing the details for recruiting teachers with the help of the Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry. The recruitment will start later this month.

“Later on, when we have decided on [who the students will be], then we’ll interview their families, conduct health tests and other administrative procedures,” Saifullah said on Wednesday.

Since last week, he has been inspecting several planned locations for the new schools in East Java and North Sumatra.

They include a low-cost rental apartment complex in Probolinggo and an elderly home in Mojokerto, both of which are run by the local administrations and located in East Java. Sekolah Rakyat in North Sumatra so far will be offered at at least two ministry-owned facilities, a provincial-run building and a building owned by a state Islamic university (UIN).