Looking Into the Affirmative Scholarship Policy for Papua-Indonesia: A Preliminary Study

Abstraksi

This paper looks into the policy of affirmative scholarship provided for the youth in Papua to continue their education to high school and university level. The scholarship programs are ADEM (High School Education Affirmative) and ADIK (Higher Education Affirmative); both policy initiatives were introduced in relation to the government’s agenda to accelerate development in Papua – the least developed province in Indonesia. The affirmative scholarships were aimed at improving the human resources quality that in turns will reduce the development gap and enable Papuans to be more empowered. This affirmative action is critically required because the youth in Papua is much less likely to continue their education, due to illiteracy and lack of competitiveness for university admission. As a country of diverse population, economic and geopolitical conditions, Indonesia faces quite a challenge in fulfilling the education needs of the citizen. Papua Province particularly is the most challenging. This preliminary study attempts at identifying rooms for improvement within the policy implementation process, and thus employs a literature review and a desk study using secondary data. This is an ongoing research and the expected output is a recommendation for improving the affirmative scholarship policy. Special consideration is taken due to the strategic position of this policy within the national’s efforts of bridging the regional disparity and special autonomy initiatives in Papua, Indonesia.