Implementation of Increased Education Participation in the Pandemic Era Through the Conditional Cash Transfer

Problem of in Indonesia is still experiencing many problems, especially at the primary and secondary education levels. This can be seen in several cases of children dropping out of school, one of which occurred in Ponorogo Regency. For this reason, this study aims to describe the implementation of increasing educational participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. This study uses descriptive qualitative methods and data searches using interviews. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program has been carried out according to the procedure. However, the level of education participation is still not optimal because children still do not continue their education to the next level. For this reason, cooperation from various parties is needed to increase the level of education participation in the Ponorogo Regency.


INTRODUCTION
Education in Indonesia today is still a lot of unresolved problems. One of them is that the level of participation in education is still low at every level of education. The low level of education in Indonesia mainly occurs at the primary and secondary education levels. The central government and local governments have made various efforts to increase educational participation, including developing national and local curricula, teacher education, and training to improve competence, procurement, and improvement of facilities and infrastructure and improve the quality of school management. However, the efforts made by the central and regional governments have not shown a significant level of participation.
The increasingly advanced and developing quality of education requires good policies and character (Wahid, 2018). Character education is one of the essential learning processes in education. One of the essential things in character education is forming a noble character (Wiyono, 2017). Having a noble character will make students ready to enter the community. In addition to the problem of character education that can shape students, what is even more critical is the issue of equity. The government has made a zoning policy to ensure equal distribution of education. This zoning will directly or indirectly encourage the equal distribution of human resources (Mashudi, 2019).
Various efforts to improve the quality of education will optimize the organization by following the principles of applicable education management (Syadzili, 2019). The success of a level of education produces sound output in productivity and the achievements of all parties actively involved in its implementation. Creating a superior and quality generation requires a high level of education and has a purpose, vision, and mission. Based on this, the right education policy can educate the younger generation with a strong foundation. The strength of the foundation of the nation's generation will, of course, be related to the strength of character and mentality and the optimal functioning of their reasoning power in the educational process. Educational institutions that can create a superior generation need managers and educators who are reliable and professional in their fields so that educational management can synergize in producing products with good quality and competitiveness.
Data on the level of education in Ponorogo Regency shows that education participation is still relatively low. In general, the level of education in Ponorogo Regency is not so high. In 2021 the percentage of the population aged 7-24 years who are still attending elementary school was 36.50%, junior high school was 13.95%, and high school was 21.66%. And the number of children aged 7-24 years who are not in school reaches 27.75. This shows that many children aged 7-24 years have not had the opportunity to receive primary education. As in the table below: The data above shows that Ponorogo Regency has not been free from the problem of illiteracy. The Central Statistics Agency noted that from 2016 to 2020, an average of 10% aged 15 years and over were still illiterate. The highest illiteracy rate occurred in 2020 where there were 12.22% of the population of Ponorogo were illiterate. Compared to 2019, the illiteracy rate in Ponorogo experienced a significant increase. Overall from 2019 to 2020, the illiteracy rate in Ponorogo Regency increased by 2.44%. Of course, the government must immediately address this increase, considering that 2020 was the beginning of the pandemic entering Ponorogo Regency, where the economic sector experienced paralysis, which spread to the education sector.
Apart from illiteracy, another problem is the high dropout rate in Ponorogo Regency. During a pandemic like today, many people have lost their jobs, which impacts many children dropping out of school. In 2020 215 junior high school students have the potential not to be able to continue to the next level. Therefore, one of the government's efforts to increase education participation, especially at the primary and secondary education levels, is through the family of hope program. One of the programs carried out by the family of hope program is to collaborate with various schools and madrasas in Ponorogo to assist children in attending school and with free boarding fees. With the exemption of fees for free to receive education, it is hoped to reduce the dropout rate during the pandemic.
The Conditional Cash Transfer Program assists the poor in which the beneficiaries are required to access education and health facilities. However, the situation is different in the distribution of aid during a pandemic. The distribution of aid during a pandemic must be correct and on target. The timing of aid distribution must also be right on target because, during a pandemic, the economic sector is the sector that has the most impact. If the timing of the distribution of aid is not correct, it may cause problems for the beneficiaries.
Another problem also arises to ensure that former beneficiaries of the hopeful family program are considered already prosperous. They no longer need to be low-income families anymore due to this pandemic. Of course, if an independent family falls into poverty again, it will add more problems due to the pandemic that paralyzes the economic sector. Increasing the number of low-income families due to the pandemic is not impossible; it will also increase the dropout rate in the community. A unique strategy is needed so that the problem where the addition of this lowincome family does not increase during this pandemic.
Increasing education participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program has been carried out by the government for a long time, so several studies focus their research on increasing educational participation, one of which is (Muhamad Khoirul Umam, 2018) which sees that improving the quality of education through students is an essential component in the education system. In the world of education, students are the primary raw material in changing knowledge. Improving the quality of education can also be done with transformative leadership, as in the research of (Nurmiyanti & Candra, 2019). (Maghfiroh, 2018) where Total Quality Management (TQM) is a strategy to improve the quality of education. The various studies above focused on increasing educational participation, which was carried out before the pandemic, but the researchers focused on the pandemic period in this study. The reality during a pandemic is the paralysis of various sectors in society, and incredibly the most impactful is the economic sector, which will affect the education sector. So in this study, the researchers focused on the implementation of increasing educational participation during the pandemic through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program.
Public policy in education can be interpreted as a decision taken jointly between the government and actors outside the government by considering the factors that influence activities in the field of education for the benefit of citizens (Fatah, 2013). Public policy in education includes the education budget, curriculum, recruitment, development of educational resources, educational facilities, and other policies that are in direct or indirect contact with the world of education. HAR Tilaar provides a somewhat different definition of education policy, where education policy is defined as the formulation of various ways to achieve national education goals. These goals are achieved through social institutions or social organizations in the form of formal, non-formal, and informal educational institutions (H.A. R Tilaar, 2009) According to George Edward III, the success or failure of policy implementation is influenced by four factors. The first is communication, which who can interpret that communication is the process of delivering communicator information to the communicant. In communication, there are several dimensions, namely the dimensions of transmission, clarity, and consistency. Second, resources are when communication is done well, but if the actor lacks resources, the implementation will not run effectively. Resources in policy implementation can be human resources and budgetary resources (Winarno, 2007) Third, the disposition where the character or characteristics possessed by the actor determines the policy's success. When the actor has the nature of commitment, honesty, and democratic nature, the actor can carry out the policy properly under what is expected by policymakers. Fourth is the bureaucratic structure, which has a significant influence on policy implementation. The longer the bureaucratic structure, the more it weakens oversight in policy implementation. There are two aspects of the bureaucratic structure: standard operating procedures and fragmentation ( Subarsono, 2011.) Looking at the various success factors of policy implementation, the implementation of increasing education participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program can be seen from these four factors.

RESEARCH METHODS
The method used in this study is a qualitative descriptive method that focuses on how to implement an increase in educational participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. The determination of informants in this study uses a purposive sampling method where informants are determined in advance according to qualifications before going out in the field and obtaining information from informants using interviews. After the data is collected, the next stage is data reduction, and the last stage is data analysis using policy implementation theory.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The implementation of student education policies needs to be an issue of great concern to the central and local governments. Primary and secondary education is a fundamental forum in education, providing and forming a basic framework to support the development of students' basic knowledge, attitudes, and skills (Mursid, 2015). In essence, increasing participation in grassroots education is education aimed at encouraging and stimulating the growth and development of students as a whole and focusing on personality or character development (Muali & Qodratillah, 2018). Policy implementation is needed to achieve this goal. One of the efforts to increase participation in education is the family of hope program. Implementing this family of hope program needs to be seen as an effort. According to Edward, the implementation of increasing educational participation through the family program of expectations can be seen from four factors: communication, resources, disposition, and bureaucratic structure.
The first factor is communication. The communication factor is crucial in policy implementation because it is a message conveyed by policymakers to actors so that implementation follows the original purpose of the policy. Communication in the implementation of increasing education participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program can be seen when monthly meetings are held between facilitators and beneficiaries. In the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, regular meetings are held every month. Still, during this pandemic, monthly meetings cannot be held because it is a crowding activity that can trigger the spread of the coronavirus. So the solution used by the Conditional Cash Transfer Program companion is to meet with the group leader of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. Just meeting the group leader will reduce the level of the crowd.
The group leader, as the representative, communicates with the facilitator to convey their complaints during the pandemic, and the facilitator provides solutions to the problems faced by aid recipients during the pandemic. In the forum, the group leader said that during the pandemic, many members asked whether the aid funds provided by the government could be used to buy cellphones because, during the pandemic, all learning was online. If seen before the pandemic period, aid funds should be used to access educational facilities, such as buying books, school uniforms, or buying bicycles that those who can use to go to school. However, during the pandemic, the situation is different where the teaching and learning process is online, so you have to use a cellphone to follow the learning process.
Of course, who must communicate the complaint properly between the facilitator and the group leader? Due to the different teaching and learning situations between the pandemic and before the pandemic, the facilitator suggested that who could use the money from the Conditional Cash Transfer Program to buy cellphones because this is one of the processes to access educational facilities. By allowing the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money to be used to purchase cellphones, then the task of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program group leader is to convey the results of his communication with the assistant to the members who receive the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance. After the grant funds can be used to buy a handphone, the next step is how to use the handphone. This is different from buying a cellphone, where it can use the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money. To purchase an internet quota, it is recommended not to use the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money. Who made this rule because the government had provided internet quota assistance carried out by the ministry of education and culture during the pandemic. It is feared that if the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money is used to purchase internet quota, it will be doubled. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients have received internet quota assistance from the ministry of education and culture. However, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money is still used to purchase the internet quota. So if it is allowed to buy internet quota, it will double the budget.
But of course, what happened in the field was different from what had been planned. The government suggested that the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance not be used to buy internet quota, but what happened in the field was that the internet quota provided by the government was not enough to participate in teaching and learning activities. Elementary to high school students get internet quota assistance of 10 GB per month. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients feel that the 10 GB per month is so tiny that it is not enough to participate in teaching and learning activities. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients spend an average of 2 GB a day participating in teaching and learning activities. So the quota of 10 GB per month provided by the ministry of education and culture is only enough for a week to participate in teaching and learning activities. To be sufficient so that Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients can participate in teaching and learning activities, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistant allows Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money to be used to purchase internet quota.
The next problem is that not all Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients receive the internet quota subsidy. Several Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients said that since the beginning of the pandemic, they had not received internet quota assistance at all, even though they had been registered by the school or registered independently. Of course, if this happens, the assistant suggests buying an internet quota using the Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistance money. Submission of the discussion results between the facilitator and the group leader, then the group leader conveys the results of the discussion to the members showing the communication process to support the program's success.
The second factor is resources. When communication is well established but the resources are not competent, the policy's objectives cannot be optimal. Resources in the implementation of increasing education participation can be seen in the duties of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistant. In this case, it can be seen from a companion of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, which is the central resource in the implementation of increasing education participation. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program Facilitator must create a module to be delivered at each group meeting with them. The Facilitator of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program must make a material design that will deliver at each group meeting they are accompanying. The material presented must be far from social welfare such as economics, education, health, care for young children, the elderly, and care for the disabled. The material presented can also be about making handicrafts that have economic value, such as making bags, cakes, raising livestock, and farming. In this case, the supervisor's task is to check the supporting modules delivered by the Conditional Cash Transfer Program participants.
The increasingly challenging tasks require competent resources to complete these tasks correctly. From the perspective of recruiting coworkers, all decisions about whether a coworker will be approved or not are made centrally. The local government is not authorized to decide whether an assistant is eligible, only responsible for providing registration services when someone wants to become a mentor. The recruitment process differs from year to year. Recruitment always follows the times and keeps up with current technological developments. The recruitment of companions uses an online system for the registration process to make it easier for those who want to register as assistants.
One of the most challenging tasks for the Conditional Cash Transfer Program facilitator is to ensure that beneficiaries are always present at group meetings because this is a medium of communication between facilitators and beneficiaries in group meetings. In this group meeting, beneficiaries will be able to submit proposals that they expect from the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, so it is necessary to be active for the beneficiaries to attend group meetings held every month. Suppose some participants are not actively participating. In that case, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program coordinator should approach the participants and ask why they have never participated in group meetings. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program host will ask what happened, if the meeting time clashed with other events, or if there were other problems. If the incident still exists, the companion can impose sanctions on the recipient. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program Coordinator cannot decide whether to suspend or terminate assistance. The coordinator, organizer, and coordinator of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program must agree to decide to suspend attendance or withdraw from participation in the Conditional Cash Transfer Program.
Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistants must think creatively whenever they assist Conditional Cash Transfer Program participants so that all group members are willing to participate in every meeting. Conditional Cash Transfer Program facilitators use various strategies to get participants to attend group meetings because if many participants do not come, it will affect the performance of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program facilitators. In this case, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program coordinator uses the lottery club system to implement a strategy so that participants are willing to attend group meetings. Anyone who participates in group gatherings can earn money from the lottery club with this lottery club. Also, with the lottery club, some of that money can be used as cash to meet sudden needs. This will attract participants' attention to participate in the monthly group meeting. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program requires the commitment and creativity of the coordinator in its implementation.
The Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistant must follow the required standards but can also be developed as long as it meets the established standards. The material presented is interesting and not boring for the Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients. The standard materials provided are related to health and nutrition, education, economy, child protection, and social welfare. Friends can convey material other than material, such as learning to sew, farming, raising livestock, handicrafts, etc. So with this material, Conditional Cash Transfer Program participants can build a business to have sufficient income. In the end, the final goal of the supervisor is for Conditional Cash Transfer Program participants to graduate independently.
The third factor is the disposition, where this factor looks at how the actor must have a nature of commitment, honesty, and democratic nature. When you are determined to be a member of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, the companion must fully fulfill the duties and obligations as a companion. Here the coordinator must accompany the participants of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. If the recipient does not perform the task, he will be fired or will not renew the contract. In addition, assistants should not interfere in the world of politics for fear of abusing their position. If he is active in politics, he will be removed, or who will cut off his contact. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program companion is also not allowed to have another job for fear that it will affect his performance. They must be the best and play their full role as facilitators of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program.
Researchers, in this case, find different facts. The researcher found that there was a Conditional Cash Transfer Program assistant who did other work. One of them is an assistant who works other jobs outside the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, namely as a Tsanawiyah school teacher. However, teaching as a Tsanawiyah school teacher does not last a week. He has priority as a companion to the Conditional Cash Transfer Program because he works as a regulatory partner rather than a Tsanawiyah teacher.
The fourth factor is the bureaucratic structure. The longer the bureaucratic structure, the more complex the level of supervision will be, and the level of success is also more challenging to achieve. In Ponorogo Regency itself, the number of Conditional Cash Transfer Program human resources reaches 143. In the Conditional Cash Transfer Program management structure, subdistrict coordinators, supervisors, database managers, street coordinators, and street assistants. If we compare the number of Conditional Cash Transfer Program HR with the number of Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients, it is not ideal. The number of guardians is 130 people and must accompany 48,300 Conditional Cash Transfer Program recipients. Each companion must accompany approximately 400 recipients of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program. This number is not ideal. Ideally, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program coordinator should accompany participants with 250 to 300 Conditional Cash Transfer Program. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program coordinator can best assist participants with this ideal amount.
The long bureaucratic structure does hinder the implementation process, but it is also necessary to pay attention to the content of the implementation itself. Here the policy environment also dramatically influences the implementation process. If you don't feel close, what will also disrupt the implementation process, so the actor must be close to the program. In the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, an assistant must feel close to the beneficiary. This can be seen from the facilitators who are chosen to accompany the recipients so that their residence is not far from the assisted group. On average, the facilitators are people from one village or at least one sub-district, with a group being mentored. The proximity of the residence makes it easier to communicate between the facilitator and the beneficiary. Because, of course, with a place to live close to this, the cultural values or community values held are still the same. Of course, this is very easy to communicate.
Because they have the same cultural or environmental values, the assistants here will be more accessible for the beneficiaries to meet them. This is so that when a beneficiary wants to consult with a facilitator, it will be easier because they are still in the same culture. Of course, each facilitator must be ready if the beneficiaries want to meet at any time. Facilitators should not close themselves off from beneficiaries if they have difficulties. If this happens, then, of course, it will hamper the implementation process itself. So here, most of the residences of the assistants are made close to the beneficiaries.
Of course, not all assistants live close to the beneficiaries. This happened because there were indeed companions who did not receive their quota of recipients near their place of residence, so they had to be placed some distance from their place of residence. This, of course, is disturbing the implementation process because it is not always possible for the beneficiaries to meet the facilitators directly because of the long-distance problem. If the beneficiary needs consultation, the beneficiary can only consult when there is a group meeting. However, if the facilitators live in the same village or at most one sub-district, they can consult at any time, but this isn't easy if they have to be indifferent sub-districts. For example, if the companion's residence has to be traveled a considerable distance, it cannot be done all the time because man must require costs and time to meet with the companion. However, the assistants who live in different sub-districts will not always be like this. If later there is a new companion or an addition to the group so that it is possible to carry out a mutation, the woman will do this. So even though the bureaucratic structure is short, actors from different contexts or different policy environments will also affect the policy implementation process so that the actor context is expected to be the same as the program.

CONCLUSION
Implementation is an essential factor in the success of a policy. The implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program is an effort to increase education participation. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program is a process that is related to the administrative body in charge of program implementation and accuracy to the target group. The implementation process influences political, legal, and social factors both directly and indirectly and influences various parties' behavior. She was involved in the program. The purpose of the implementation of increasing education participation through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program is to set a direction so women can realize those policy objectives. In implementing education policies, some processes and obstacles must be passed so that strategies and approaches are needed to overcome these problems. Seeing the increase in educational participation in Ponorogo Regency through the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, they can see that the implementation has followed standard operating procedures. However, implementing educational policies to increase education participation is not considered optimal because there are still children who do not continue their education to the next level.