Education Budget Cuts Threaten Nation's Children's Education Services

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The government's budget cuts for education without carefully considering the impact on public services actually threaten the achievement of President Prabowo's Asta Cita. This is because education, which is an important pillar of Asta Cita Number 4, namely the strengthening of the human resource quality improvement system, is now at risk of not functioning optimally.

Throughout Thursday (13/2/2025), concerns about the impact of education budget cuts emerged on social media. What stood out significantly was the support to save the Kartu Indonesia Pintar (KIP) College program.

"Today we are taking action on social media and trending for the first time since before Dhuhur. We raised the hashtag #savekipkuliah so that it would trend and get the President's attention. We want to be like the 3 kg LPG gas action that went viral, and was eventually canceled by the President," said the General Chairperson of the Central Board of the Bidik Misi and KIP Kuliah National Student and Alumni Association (PDKN) Rizal Maula.

Rizal stated that the #savekipkuliah action was a reaction to the results of the meeting between the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro and Commission X of the House of Representatives, which mentioned that the KIP College budget was cut. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology proposed a budget of Rp 15.4 trillion, but the Directorate General of Budget of the Ministry of Finance cut Rp 1.3 trillion (9 percent).

The allocation of KIP College funds for the year 2025 targets 1,040,192 recipient students and new students. If it continues to be cut, funds for 663,821 students out of a total of 844,174 recipient students in 2025 cannot be paid. The KIP College scholarship for underprivileged students in public and private universities covers tuition fees and living expenses from the beginning of college until graduation with a D3/S1 degree.

As a result, students receiving the KIP Kuliah scholarship could be at risk of dropping out. Additionally, there will be no new student admissions for KIP Kuliah recipients in 2025. In fact, the registration was opened on February 4th, and by February 7th, there were 21,131 applicants.

It is believed that this non-people policy will cause unrest in society and become a national issue.

The failure of students from poor families to complete their studies due to obstacles with the KIP Kuliah program has resulted in the absence of the first graduates from poor families. The government's mission to break the cycle of poverty through higher education has also failed. This policy, which is not pro-people, is believed to cause unrest in the community and become a national issue.

"We request that the KIP College budget not be cut. There are allocations for employee expenses and social assistance that should not be subject to efficiency measures," said Satryo.

Rizal stated that the reduction in the education budget is concerning. As a result, not only is the KIP College payment unable to fund all recipients and new prospective recipients, but there is also the potential for an increase in single tuition fees (UKT). This increase in tuition fees is triggered by a 50 percent cut in the operational costs of state universities (BOPTN).

Rizal reminded that the case of the lack of KIP Kuliah funds in 2023 should not be repeated. As a result, the government created a scheme of 1 and 2 for KIP Kuliah recipients, namely not all recipients receive tuition fees and living expenses.

"Poor people who were affected by the scheme only received tuition fees. They were confused about what to take. Some canceled taking it because it was hard to think about living expenses. Some took it, but had to struggle hard to find living expenses," said Rizal.

According to Rizal, KIP Kuliah recipient students hope that the President can pay attention to their fate. President Prabowo was asked to cancel the cuts in KIP Kuliah scholarship funds and other scholarships, including ensuring that there is no increase in UKT.

"There are even those who argue that we should not force a free nutritious food program if it threatens students from poor families to drop out of college," said Rizal.

Member of Commission X of the House of Representatives M Khadafi said that the budget cuts for KIP Kuliah made recipient students nervous. They could be worried about being affected because the available allocation is not able to finance all recipients this year.

Another member of Commission X of the House of Representatives, Anita Yakoba, said that although the education budget cuts had been decided, the government must review the provisions that there are things that cannot be cut. "This must be reaffirmed. Especially for education, don't just cut. We in the House of Representatives were shocked, let alone the Indonesian people, especially teachers, lecturers and students," she said.

Anita emphasized that there are various rules that the government must not violate. For example, the Teachers and Lecturers Law which ensures that professional allowances for teachers and lecturers must be paid every month. The constitution also mandates that the government must finance education.

Therefore, Commission X of the House of Representatives emphasized that social assistance such as KIP Kuliah scholarships and other scholarships should not be cut. These people's representatives support the Ministry of Education and Science and Technology to request that there be no cuts to employee spending and social assistance.

"We appreciate the DPR's support for the Ministry of Education and Science and Technology that the budget should be returned to its original portion, especially for employee and social spending. For institutions, we hope that support can provide services to universities so that there is no increase in UKT," said Satryo.

Satryo also asked for budget support for the performance allowance (tukin) for State Civil Apparatus (ASN) lecturers within the Ministry of Science and Technology, which was promised at Rp 2.5 trillion, to be allocated this year, at least as an additional budget for 2025.

Separately, the National Coordinator of the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network, Ubaid Matraji, questioned the budget cuts that hit the three main ministries related to education, namely the Ministry of Education and Technology, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. If the education budget becomes less than 20 percent, it means that the government has violated Article 31 of the 1945 Constitution.

"So, the mandatory spending of 20 percent should be maintained, not cut here and there. The step of cutting the education budget is certainly very unfortunate, considering the many challenges still faced by the education sector in Indonesia. Reducing the education budget will have a very broad and serious impact on the future of the nation," Ubaid stressed.