Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Ministry of Social Affairs has proposed recruiting more than 5,000 teachers and over 4,000 education personnel to support the expansion of the Sekolah Rakyat (People's School) program across Indonesia.Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said in Jakarta on Thursday that the proposal had been submitted to the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform.He said the additional personnel are needed as the number of students continues to rise, currently nearing 16,000.The government is targeting the addition of more than 30,000 new students this year, bringing the total to over 45,000.By next year, the number of new students is projected to exceed 60,000.”In other words, our target is to serve more than 100,000 Sekolah Rakyat students by next year. We therefore need additional teachers,” he said.Yusuf added that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has been entrusted with determining the qualifications of teachers and education personnel.”However, there will still be retreats and training programs to ensure the quality of education for our students,” he said.Sekolah Rakyat is one of President Prabowo Subianto's priority initiatives aimed at expanding access to education for children from low-income families based on the National Socioeconomic Single Data (DTSEN).The program adopts a boarding school concept and integrates services such as free meals, health screening, health insurance, village cooperatives, and the three million homes program.According to ministry data, 166 pilot sites have been operating across 38 provinces since July 2025, serving around 15,900 students from elementary to high school levels.The government is also building 101 permanent sites this year as part of a target to develop 500 schools by 2029.