Education is for the rich<\/p>\n
From Koran Tempo<\/p>\n
When delivering an election campaign address in Saburai
\nSquare, Bandar Lampung, on June 28, vice presidential candidate
\nJusuf Kalla promised to provide more financial assistance to
\nschoolchildren of poor parents. \"Poor students will enjoy free
\neducation. Rich students will not enjoy free education but will
\nhave to pay more,\" he said.<\/p>\n
While Jusuf Kalla deserves our praise in this respect, his
\nidea has come late because, since the Soeharto era, children of
\nrich parents have always been required to pay higher school fees
\nthan those that come from badly-off families.<\/p>\n
The problem lies in the implementation of this policy. Rich
\nparents try, by hook or by crook, to send their children to
\ngovernment-funded good schools while children from poor families
\nhave to enter private schools. They must pay higher school fees
\nand in return receive education of a lower quality. The children
\nof such people as Jusuf Kalla, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
\nWiranto, for example, can easily be enrolled in excellent,
\nfavored schools.<\/p>\n
In future, the government should ensure that there will be an
\nequal opportunity for both poor and rich students to enjoy access
\nto good education. It is the government's job to make good
\neducation affordable to the children of even the poorest parents.<\/p>\n
The government should also consider requiring rich families to
\nmake a donation for school development. That way the rich would
\nsubsidize the poor.<\/p>\n
HUMALA PONTAS S.
\n Jakarta<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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