Jakarta. SMA Negeri 61, a Jakarta-based high school, recently held a festival zeroing in on social security.

The event -- titled Sosial Fest -- became part of the piloting for Indonesia’s efforts to educate students regarding social security. This is also part of Indonesia’s way of implementing the module for the so-called “Pancasila students” or model students. According to the National Social Security Council (DJSN) chairman Agus Suprapto, people need to be aware of social security from an early age, thus calling for the need to teach students about the program.

“We need to teach elementary and junior high school students about social security. Having this program included as part of the ‘Pancasila Students’ program is part of our way of executing our programs in the education sector,” Agus was quoted as saying in a recent press statement.

Agus even called the SMA 61 students an “agent” for BPJS Ketenagakerjaan and BPJS Kesehatan --the state-owned social security agencies, saying that the teens have an incredible understanding of their programs. SMA Negeri 61 Jakarta’s principal Sri Mulyanti also commented on the program.

“It is important to teach social security from an early age. … Because when the students enter the workforce, they of course will need the protection of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan’s [employment security] and BPJS Kesehatan’s [health security],” Sri Mulyanti said.

The students were also invited to visit BPJS Ketenagakerjaan and BPJS Kesehatan’s branch offices. During the visit, the students could see in person the entire business process, starting from the registration to the claim submission, the press release wrote. 

BPJS Ketenagakerjaan vowed to make sure that workers would not need to worry about their social security protection. The government would cover all occupational risks with BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, according to the agency’s director for general and human capital Abdur Rahman Irsyadi.

“This is a good first step in efforts to increase social security literacy from an early age. Hopefully, the [Pelajar Pancasila] module can be applied comprehensively in high schools throughout Indonesia. So as more and more young people understand the importance of social security, we can achieve universal coverage soon," Abdur said.

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