Jakarta, June 26 -- Hundreds of children from underprivileged families filed into a classroom at the Education and Training Center building owned by the Ministry of Social Affairs in South Jakarta this week.

The group of teenagers was orderly and seemingly unbothered by the strong smell of freshly painted walls and the glue on their study desks.

They had not gathered for a school trip. Instead, they were at the center as prospective students of the Sekolah Rakyat boarding school program, hoping to learn more about the place that would be their learning space for the next three years.

The activity was part of a series of public education events on the first phase of the Sekolah Rakyat program, led directly by Social Affairs Minister Sai...