LinkAja and OVO Develop Strategies to Provide Tuition’s Payment

Education has become one of the sectors that have begun to be financial technology companies (fintech) attention. After GoPay, it was LinkAja, OVO, DANA and Doku’s turn to prepare a strategy to be able to provide a service for paying Education Development Donations aka school fees.

Head of Corporate Communications LinkAja Putri Dianita said the company was in the process of collaborating with 45 universities and schools to provide payment services. LinkAja targets to be able to provide these features in April.

Currently, LinkAja payment services are available in canteens of 25 Indonesian campuses. Now, the company wants to expand its coverage by providing school tuition payment services and others.

The company sees that need as an opportunity. LinkAja can digitize payment services at educational institutions ranging from school tuition fees, library fines, and others. Besides, schools are one of the potential ecosystems to educate the public regarding fintech payment services.

There are some challenges to enter the education sector, such as technical gaps. “So it takes longer to integrate technology,” said Putri. Some schools also limit the use of smartphones (smartphones). Then, there are still traders in the canteen who have difficulty using fintech payment services.

OVO is Waiting for Permission from the Minister of Education and Culture

While OVO is awaiting permission from the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim to be able to provide tuition fees for school fees.

OVO has sent a letter to the founder of the Gojek. OVO President Director Karaniya Dharmasaputra said the government opened space for OVO to be involved in the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) program.

One of the unicorns has also held an audience with the Ministry of Education and Culture related to readiness to explore the education sector. “A letter has been sent to the Minister (Nadiem Makarim). Hopefully, we will accept it. We are ready, in principle. But waiting for his direction,” said Karaniya in Jakarta.

He is optimistic that the government will not let one company only provide school tuition payment services. “The government opens space for all. It’s impossible to make one. We are also ready to support, “said Karaniya.

Chief Communications Officer (CCO) DANA Chrisma Albandjar assesses that schools have the potential to adopt fintech payment services. “The existence of digital wallets like our company is designed to answer all the financial needs of the people of Indonesia including money management education for students in particular,” he said.

However, companies face challenges in terms of telecommunications infrastructure. In addition, digital literacy and public trust related to payment fintech services need to be improved.

Doku Claimed to Have Served Education Tuition Fee’s Payment Since 2007

Meanwhile, Doku claimed to have partnered with educational institutions since 2007, one of them with PT Indoglobal Nusa Persada aka Pintro. Payment services for registration fees, entrance fees, SPP and others.

However, the majority of users use the bank transfer, debit and credit card payment methods to pay for tuition through the Doku platform. In fact, according to Doku Ricky Richmond Aldien’s Chief Compliance and Regulatory Officer (CCRO), payment fintech has the opportunity to explore the education sector.

In addition, because people are getting used to it, the government is implementing the standard Quick Response code (QRIS). “This allows payments from all electronic money issuers and mobile banking by scanning just one QR code at an educational institution,” Ricky said.

However, he agreed with LinkAja and DANA that several challenges needed to be resolved. For example, changing the management of educational institutions from cash to non-cash.

Then, settlement times and changes in verification procedures have the potential to get resistance from managers at the working level. “Besides, the unavailability of an education management system at a school has resulted in the payment process not running automatically,” said Ricky.