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Prabowo’s schools for low-income kids start selecting students
At least 8,000 potential students have registered to enroll in regions where the Sekolah Rakyat (community schools) are slated to open in July, the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.
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Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf (center) talks with South Sulawesi Governor Andi Sudirman Sualiman (left) and Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin (right) when inspecting a potential location for Sekolah Rakyat (community school) in Makassar, South Sulawesi on May. 8, 2025. (Antara/Hasrul Said)
T
he government continues to work to prepare for the establishment of Sekolah Rakyat (community schools), President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship program aimed at low-income families, as authorities start to select potential students ahead of their nationwide opening slated for this year.
After months of finalizing the project, the administrative selection stage for prospective students has started, according to Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf.
At least 8,000 student hopefuls have so far registered to enroll in regions where the schools have been slated to open. Sekolah Rakyat will utilize either buildings owned by the Social Affairs Ministry or halls run by local administrations.
“We have started [the process] by visiting one of the prospective students in Bandar Lampung today,” Saifullah said during his visit to the Lampung provincial capital on Monday.
On his trip across provinces to inspect the schools’ locations over the week, local authorities also helped the minister assess the students’ houses to collect data on their families’ social and economic conditions.
Prospective students will have to come from households that are included in the “poverty” and “extreme poverty” categories in the government’s Single National Social and Economic Data (DTSEN) system to be considered for the school.
After finishing collecting the students’ data, the Social Affairs Ministry will then perform a health examination on the students before finalizing their enrollment. Saifullah stressed there would be no academic test for the students.
