City offers free tuition for SMP 56 students<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto and Evi Mariani, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration has again offered students at the
\ndisputed SMP 56 junior high school in Melawai, South Jakarta, the
\nopportunity to transfer to and attend the state junior high
\nschool of their choice at no cost.<\/p>\n
\"These students said they did not have the money to pay
\ntuition fees (so they enrolled at SMP 56 for free). We are still
\noffering them the opportunity to move to any state junior high
\nschool for free,\" Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
At least 40 junior high school students began the new school
\nyear at SMP 56 on Monday. The school's management is being funded
\nby non-governmental organization Government Watch, which has
\nprovided free books and school uniforms to the students.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso reiterated that his administration would not
\nrecognize the school.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is actually not about free education for
\nstudents, but it is that the school fails to meet the standards
\nrequired by the law .... It is impossible for us to give
\nrecognition to the school,\" the governor said.<\/p>\n
He warned that the students and their parents would be the
\nones affected if the administration was forced to step in and
\nvacate the school.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot simply allow this problem to continue since we are
\nobliged to hand over the school to PT Tata Disantara, which has
\nalready turned over its assets as part of a swap deal,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso was referring to a controversial land swap deal
\nsigned in 2000 between the Ministry of National Education and
\ndeveloper Tata Disantara, which is owned by businessman and
\nformer manpower minister Abdul Latief.<\/p>\n
The deal involves Tata Disantara handing over two buildings in
\nJeruk Purut and Bintaro, both in South Jakarta, in exchange for
\nthe SMP 56 building in Melawai.<\/p>\n
For the last three years, the administration has been using
\nthe Jeruk Purut building to house the new SMP 56 school and the
\nBintaro building to house the SMA 87 school. However, some
\nparents and teachers at SMP 56 in Melawai protested the deal and
\nrefused to move to Jeruk Purut.<\/p>\n
Those parents and teachers filed a civil lawsuit with the
\nSouth Jakarta District Court, but the court rejected the suit.
\nThey are now awaiting a ruling by the Jakarta State
\nAdministrative High Court on their appeal.<\/p>\n
The National Commission for Child Protection has attempted to
\nmediate in the dispute but to no avail.<\/p>\n
The dispute became uglier when the administration reported a
\nteacher at SMP 56 Melawai, Nurlaila, to the police for conducting
\nillegal educational activities, while the school reported several
\ncity officials to the police for intimidation and negligence.<\/p>\n
Detectives from the Jakarta Police continued their questioning
\nof Nurlaila on Tuesday as a suspect on at least three charges:
\nteaching without a permit, document forgery and unlawful entry.<\/p>",
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