The government again subsidized internet quotas and college tuition fees for 2021. Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim said the government listened to complaints from people who needed support to keep Indonesian children learning amid the limitations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"With the cooperation and support between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Technology will inaugurate further internet data quota assistance and college tuition fee in 2021," Nadiem said at a press conference, Wednesday, August 4, 2021.

In September to November 2021, he said, The Ministry of Education will distribute Rp 2.3 trillion for further internet quota subsidy assistance for 26.8 million students, students, teachers, and lecturers.

Quota assistance for kindergarten students is 7 GB/month, for primary and secondary education students of 10 GB/month. Then for kindergarten and Primary and Secondary Education educators of 12 GB / month and for lecturers and students of 15 GB / month.

Nadiem Makarim said the quota assistance aims to support the learning process. Kemendikbud-Ristek provides general quota flexibility to access all pages and applications, except those blocked by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics and those listed on the official website of internet data quota assistance.

"So there are some applications that are not for education that we take out of use. But beyond that we provide as much flexibility as possible for users of this quota," said Nadiem.

He also asked the head of the education unit to immediately update the data of students, students, teachers, and lecturers. Because, now entering the new school year so many new students must be enrolled.

Nadiem said quota assistance will be distributed on September 11-15, October 11-15, and November 11-15, 2021. This data quota will be valid for 30 days from receipt.

The second type of assistance is a single tuition assistance. Nadiem said the government heard a lot of complaints from students affected by the economy during the day.

Starting September 2021, the Ministry of Education and Technology will distribute Rp 745 billion for further college tuition fees costs for students affected by Covid-19. This assistance is provided according to the amount of college tuition fees (at cost) with a maximum of Rp 2.4 million per student.

If the value of college tuition feesis greater, then the difference becomes the policy of the college according to the student's circumstances. Assistance is provided for students who have not received assistance in other forms, such as KIP Kuliah or Bidikmisi, and their families need assistance for the payment of ODD semester 2021 college tuition fees.

Nadiem said that in 2020 and 2021 the Ministry of Education has distributed Rp 13.2 trillion in aid and deployed more than 50 thousand student volunteers in the context of handling Covid-19. This assistance, he said, includes internet data quota subsidy assistance of Rp 6.8 trillion for 26.8 million recipients in 2021 and 35.6 million recipients in 2020.

Second, single tuition assistance with a total budget of Rp 2 trillion to 419 thousand students from public and private universities affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Third, wage subsidy assistance amounted to Rp 3.7 trillion for 2 million educators and non-civil servants, such as teachers, as well as cultural arts actors.

Fourth, budget reallocation worth Rp 405 billion for the improvement of 30 educational hospitals and medical faculties in public and private universities, PPE facilities, reagents, and RT-PCR detection tools. Fifth, support Covid-19 control by deploying 15 thousand students as volunteers.

Through the Teaching Campus program, Nadiem continued, Kemendikbud-Ristek also deployed 38,706 students accompanied by 5,106 lecturers for 8,351 schools in 34 provinces. The budget for this program is Rp 353 billion. "This is all forms of support that we have carried out in this year and the previous year," said Nadiem Makarim.