ICW says schools drowning in corruption<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Tarnishing their much-vaunted label as educational institutions,
\nschools are widely prone to corruption practices through unclear
\nschool budgets and the lack of supervision by parents, a study by
\nIndonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) says.<\/p>\n
The research, conducted from August 2003 to February 2004
\namong parents and teachers from 50 elementary schools in Jakarta,
\nrevealed that the implementation of the school-based management
\npolicy had not met its initial purpose of involving the community
\nin developing schools.<\/p>\n
"There are several factors that contribute to the failure of
\nthe policy such as the public's low awareness of it, the top-down
\napproach, and non-transparent reports by the schools," Ade Irawan
\nof ICW said on Wednesday during a seminar organized to evaluate
\nthe school-based management policy.<\/p>\n
Initiated in 2000, the policy was aimed at encouraging the
\ncommunity to supervise schools, especially in terms of the use of
\nfunds, through the creation of school committees, and by
\ngathering ideas to improve the institutions.<\/p>\n
ICW found that only 21.6 percent of parents interviewed
\nclaimed to have any idea about the committees, let alone the
\npolicy as a whole.<\/p>\n
"The scant knowledge of the policy means the community is
\nunaware of it, simply leaving all matters to schools to handle.
\nThe government must take more actions to familiarize the parents
\nwith the policy," he said.<\/p>\n
The coordinator of ICW, Teten Masduki, said the public should
\nshare the blame for not giving adequate attention to educational
\nissues and for relying heavily on the government.<\/p>\n
"The public considers that the provision of education is the
\ngovernment's problem. This makes it harder to expect active
\nparticipation from the people," Teten told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Ade said corruption cases in schools could be easily seen from
\nthe numerous fees imposed on students, such as fees for
\nevaluation reports, book rental, extra-curricular activities, and
\nannual building projects.<\/p>\n
"Schools barely reveal their budget components, including
\ngovernment subsidies, while parents never bother to ask for an
\nexplanation.<\/p>\n
"Almost 50 percent of our respondents said that they were not
\ninformed about how the schools formulate those fees, let alone
\nthe reports on their use," asserted Ade.<\/p>\n
A deputy chairman of the House of Representatives Commission
\nVI, which oversees religion, education, culture, and tourism,
\nHeri Akhmadi, said that one of the problems faced was a fear of
\nloss of authority.<\/p>\n
"In regions, headmasters or heads of education agencies fear
\nthat such a policy will remove their authority. It's wrong, so
\nofficials should be open-minded," he told the same seminar.<\/p>\n
ICW has been collecting evidence about possible corruption
\ncases in schools.<\/p>\n
"We're trying to set up a legal team to deal with this issue,
\nand we plan to report the cases to the police," Ade said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/icw-says-schools-drowning-in-corruption-1447893297",
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