Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim said his ministry will supply monthly mobile data for students and teachers to support online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mobile data subsidy, which Nadiem announced in a meeting with the Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) today, will see students and teachers receive 35GB and 42 GB of mobile data each month, respectively. University students and lecturers, on the other hand, are eligible for 50GB per month.
“We have been fighting internally to acquire an additional budget, a new budget that can answer the public’s number one concern currently,” Nadiem said.
“From all their worries, it’s clear what is at the top,” he continued, referring to phone credit and mobile data.
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Nadiem said that IDR7.2 trillion (US$490,7 million) has been allocated for the mobile data subsidy, which will cover the period between September and December of this year. On top of the mobile data budget, Nadiem added that IDR1.7 trillion has been allocated for teachers’ professional allowance, bringing the total online learning budget to almost IDR9 trillion.
Nadiem promised to distribute the internet data assistance as soon as possible, though he has yet to explain in detail how the program will be implemented.
Online learning is still mandatory in many Indonesian schools, including those located in COVID-19 green zones. Meanwhile, universities are still not allowed to conduct classroom learning for the rest of the semester.
Many Indonesians are not equipped with adequate internet access, as many low-income families can barely afford to pay for internet data. Stories of people supporting each other to get by in this trying time are becoming more common, such as a café in the East Java capital of Surabaya that is providing free wifi and hot tea for students doing online learning at their shop.
Related: Surabaya café giving students a shot at online learning with free wi-fi, hot tea
Paristiyanti Nurwardani, the secretary of the ministry’s Directorate General of Higher Education, previously said that the internet data assistance will be prioritized for students and university students who come from lower economic backgrounds.
