Govt to abolish state school fees<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government is to abolish tuition fees for
\nall state schools in an attempt to ease the devastating impact of
\nthe monetary crisis which has resulted in nearly one out of every
\nthree children dropping out of school.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said the
\ngovernment would also provide free books and, if families could
\nnot afford it, children would be exempted from purchasing new
\nschool uniforms.<\/p>\n
\"In principle the government wants to save students who are
\naffected by the economic crisis as their parents are no longer
\nable to support their education,\" Juwono said after attending a
\nmonthly cabinet meeting on social welfare and poverty alleviation
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
It is not clear whether state senior vocational high schools
\nare include in the scheme.<\/p>\n
After the three-hour meeting, Juwono briefed journalists
\ntogether with Minister of Cooperatives Adi Sasono and Minister of
\nInformation Yunus Yosfiah.<\/p>\n
Without providing details, Juwono revealed the daunting
\nstatistic that 30 percent of school children across the country
\nhad dropped out of school since the monetary crisis hit Indonesia
\nlast July.<\/p>\n
The country's per capita annual income has plunged from about
\nUS$1,100 before the crisis in July to less than $300.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris said last week that at least
\n15 million people would become unemployed this year.<\/p>\n
According to Juwono the government will provide annual
\nscholarships worth Rp 120,000 (US$9) each for 4 percent of the
\ncountry's 29 million primary school pupils, and Rp 240,000 for
\n16.1 percent of the 9.6 million junior high school students.<\/p>\n
The government will also allocate Rp 2 million annually as an
\noperational cost for each of the 69,300 primary schools, or 40
\npercent of the total government schools which are considered most
\nneedy.<\/p>\n
Another Rp 4 million will go to help each of the 30,391 junior
\nhigh schools, which make up 40 percent of all junior high schools
\nin the country.<\/p>\n
However the government does not feel able to provide financial
\nassistance to the country's 5 million senior high school students
\nand the 185,000 university students.<\/p>\n
\"We are still waiting for the agreement between the government
\nand the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the government is
\nvery dependent on the IMF,\" Juwono explained.<\/p>\n
Juwono said the government program would be funded by the
\nWorld Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in addition to
\nits own financial resources.<\/p>\n
\"This is our fate now,\" Adi remarked about the dependence on
\nthe international agencies.<\/p>\n
When asked about the fate of private school students Juwono
\nacknowledged that his ministry could not do much.<\/p>\n
He expressed hope that private schools would do their best to
\nhelp their students who are facing severe financial hardships.<\/p>\n
\"I also hope that students are no longer forced to buy books,\"
\nJuwono noted.<\/p>\n
Juwono promised to give attention to teachers whose salaries
\nwere often cut by their superiors without higher approvals.<\/p>\n
\"I have heard this complaint since 1957, when I was still at
\njunior high school,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
Adi further highlighted the increasingly dire circumstances
\nthe country was facing.<\/p>\n
He noted a drastic increase in the number of people living
\nbelow the poverty line.<\/p>\n
He said the number had swelled from 17 million to 25 million
\nwithin a year.<\/p>\n
During yesterday's cabinet meeting President B.J. Habibie
\nordered Minister of Health Anfasa Moeloek to speed up efforts to
\nimport as many medicine raw materials as possible to force down
\nthe prices of pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
\"The quality of the medicines and their expiry dates should
\nalso closely be monitored,\" Yunus quoted Habibie as saying.<\/p>\n
Adi said that the government's efforts to accelerate the
\ndistribution of commodities through small cooperatives had shown
\nencouraging progress, especially regarding cooking oil.<\/p>\n
\"I received a report that the price has dropped from Rp 7,000
\nper liter to Rp 4,000,\" Adi said as he smilingly added \"I do hope
\nthat this report is accurate\".<\/p>\n
Adi, a former Soeharto critic, said the government had no
\nchoice but to promote cooperatives and small businesses as more
\nthan 90 percent the country's 202 million population depended on
\nthis sector.<\/p>\n
\"Bank loans benefit less than one percent of the country's
\npopulation while 38.9 million small entrepreneurs are waiting in
\nvain,\" he noted. (prb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-to-abolish-state-school-fees-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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