Papuan Student Scholarships in Jogja Stalled, Many Starved & Dropped Out

Quoted from Harianjogja.com, the scholarships for hundreds of Papuan students studying in Jogja have stalled, resulting in many dropping out and dropping out of college. A total of 114 students from Manokwari Regency, West Papua in Yogyakarta did not receive the regional scholarships they received. The scholarships, which have to be paid every six million, worth Rp. 6 million per month, have not been available since 2020. As a result, students drop out of college and pay every day. This condition was reported to the Ombudsman RI (ORI) DIY.

Ombudsman RI (ORI) DIY

The head of ORI DIY, Budhi Masturi, said that it was in accordance with the ORI of West Papua. "We have done the coordination and they are ready to facilitate it," he explained, Sunday (10/7/2022).

Papuan Student Scholarships in Jogja Stalled, Many Starved & Dropped Out

Because of the different jurisdictions in the working area, explained Budhi, what ORI DIY can do is only to coordinate and facilitate the problem. "We cannot recommend certain policies for this problem because of the different working areas," he said.

Officially, said Budhi, coordination will be carried out on Monday (11/7/2022) because ORI DIY only received the report on Friday (8/7/2022). "But I have conveyed this problem to the Head of ORI West Papua, they are ready to facilitate and dialogue with the West Papua Regional Government," he explained.

Scholarships

The Papuan Students Association of DIY (Ipmapa) DPW Manokwari reported the problem because there were irregularities. "We are still following all the administrative procedures that the Manokwari Regional Government asked for scholarships until 2021 yesterday, but after we asked again, it turns out that the scholarship program has been stopped since 2020, this is an odd thing for us," explained spokesman for Ipmapa DPW Manokwari Irto Mamoribo.

Irto explained that there were many Manokwari students in Yogyakarta whose fate was not clear. “Many have dropped out of school, those who are still in Jogja every day have to. because there is no money," he said.

As many as 114 students, according to Irto, always follow the procedures and administrative requirements of the scholarships. "We always comply with the requirements, there are KTM, transcripts, certificates of active lectures, and other population documents," he said.

Funding

According to Irto, the source of the program's funding comes from special autonomy (otsus). "We have coordinated with the Manokwari Regional Government yesterday, in fact the scholarship program has not existed since 2020, we are confused and we go to ORI DIY," he said.

Ipmapa hopes that the scholarship program will continue and this problem will not be repeated. "We will continue to fight for the education of the children of West Papua," he said.