Ministry Allocates Rp162 Billion To Jardiknas Program

Kuta, Bali, Dec 4 (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Education and Culture has allocated Rp162 billion to the establishment of National Education Network (Jardiknas), which is a national network that connects all educational institutions and schools across Indonesia. "The fund will be used to build internet network infrastructure at schools and educational institutions," said Ari Santoso, the Ministry of Education and Culture�s Information and Communication Technology head, on the sidelines of "International Symposium on Open, Distance, and E-Learning (ISODEL) 2012� here on Tuesday. He noted that the fund would be enough to develop the internet network infrastructure of approximately 10 percent of the total number of educational institutions � 254,000, including schools � managed by the Ministry. "However, we will continue to increase our efforts in order to reach the target of 40,000 schools next year. And for 2014, we have set ourselves a target of 100,000 schools," Ari stated. �The Ministry will also allocate Rp140 billion to build technology-based schools and train teachers in information and communication technology (ICT),� he added. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Culture�s Special Staff for Social and Economic Affairs, Taufik Hanafi, said the education budget will be increased to Rp336.8 trillion next year, up 7 percent from the 2012 budget of Rp298 trillion. "Of the total funds for education allocated in the 2013 state budget, around 65 percent will be distributed directly to all regions across Indonesia," Hanafi noted. "A part of the education budget will also be used for the construction and development of ICT infrastructure throughout the country," he added.