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Data flaws cast shadow on Jakarta’s free preschool program
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Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung (right) holds the hand of a student at Prosperous Children’s Park (TAS) Arutala in Kebon Bawang, North Jakarta, on May 5, 2025. The governor launched the free preschool program to fulfill his campaign promise of providing better access to early childhood education in the capital. (Berita Jakarta/Reza Pratama Putra)
T
he Jakarta administration’s newly launched free preschool initiative for underprivileged children has received a positive reception from the public, but experts have called for a review of the program’s beneficiary selection process, citing shortcomings in the government’s data recording system.
Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung, who took office in January, inaugurated on Monday the first Prosperous Children’s Park (TAS) Arutala in Kebon Bawang, North Jakarta, as part of his campaign promise to provide access to affordable early childhood education for poor families listed in the government’s Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS).
Three TAS centers have been prepared so far, each accommodating between 25 and 30 children under the age of six, but the governor aims for a total of 44 centers, one in each district across all five municipalities in the capital.
The TAS Arutala in Kebon Bawang utilized an abandoned asset owned by the city’s social agency, Pramono explained.
“I have instructed [my subordinates] to build one TAS in every district,” said the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, while hoping that the students would continue to receive assistance from the city administration to continue their elementary and secondary educations through the Jakarta Smart Card (KJP) assistance program.
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Pramono further asserted that the TAS program, jointly funded by the administration, the local branch of the National Zakat Agency (Baznas Jakarta) and corporate social responsibility contributions from regionally owned enterprises (BUMD), only targeted “extremely poor families that truly cannot afford” early childhood education.
