Public schools and the public<\/p>\n
Ardimas Sasdi, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The new academic year, which began this week, marked the end
\nof a tiring and costly struggle for many students and their
\nparents. This happened because the era of stiff competition to
\nenter the right school, including public schools, is not only a
\nbattle of wits as it was two decades ago.<\/p>\n
To get a seat at a public school now, aspiring students must
\nbe smart and financially able as the law of the market dictates
\nthat schools need both bright students to improve their image and
\nmoney to finance their operations. The idea of public schools as
\npeople-friendly is now a thing of the past.<\/p>\n
For their part, public schools, though still receiving funds
\nfrom the government, as a stakeholder, have to find a balance
\nbetween the two elements in order to survive, especially after
\nthe government drastically cut the budget for education in the
\nwake of the economic crisis that hit the country in 1997.<\/p>\n
The tough competition to get a space at a government school,
\nwhich has become an interesting phenomena in recent years, is the
\nresult of parents' desire to send their children to public school
\ndue to improvements in public school education and the low
\ntuition compared with private schools.<\/p>\n
Given this situation, the government has no option but to call
\non the public, as another stakeholder, to contribute more funds
\nto public schools.<\/p>\n
Parents have to spend more money to pay for various fees --
\n\"admission fee\", \"development fee\", \"participation fee\",
\n\"voluntary donation\". The amount of the fees varies from one
\nschool to another depending on its status as a favorite or non-
\nfavorite among students and their parents.<\/p>\n
This year some favorite public high schools (SMAN) in Medan,
\nNorth Sumatra, set the admission fee at Rp 2.5 million (US$260)
\nper student. SMAN I in Depok, a top public school in the suburb
\nsouth of Jakarta, charged new students a Rp 2 million admission
\nfee, up Rp 1 million from the 1992 fee.<\/p>\n
The top public high schools in Jakarta, like SMAN 8 in South
\nJakarta, charged admission fees ranging from Rp 7 million to more
\nthan Rp 10 million, depending on the grade of the new students, a
\n100 percent increase from three years ago. The amount is still
\nhalf as much as the Rp 10 million to Rp 20 million admission fees
\ncharged by top private Islamic schools or Christian schools.<\/p>\n
Tuition at top public schools range from Rp 200,000 to Rp
\n400,000 per month, a relatively large amount of money for many
\nparents.<\/p>\n
Admission fees and tuition form the largest part of public
\nschools' income. At SMAN 1 Depok, for example, parents of
\nstudents contributed Rp 1.23 billion, or more than 93 percent of
\nthe school's budget of Rp 1.32 billion for the 2004-2005 academic
\nyear. Only 6 percent of the budget, or Rp 90 million, came from
\nthe government.<\/p>\n
A large chunk of the budget usually goes toward such needs as
\nthe purchase of stationery, maintenance fees, the renovation and
\nconstruction of new classrooms and the payment of incentives to
\nteachers to supplement their meager incomes.<\/p>\n
But the significant participation of parents in the financing
\nof the schools, which constitutes the transfer of the financial
\nburden from the government to the public, has not been
\naccompanied by a change in the attitude and mind-set of the
\npublic school management. Many schools are still not transparent
\nin drafting and implementing the school budget.<\/p>\n
Many schools still treat school committees as objects to be
\nexploited rather than as an equal partner, and consult them only
\nwhen the schools need money.<\/p>\n
In the future, school committees should be given the power to
\ndraft a school's budget together with the school's management,
\nand to supervise the budget's implementation to minimize waste
\nand inefficiency. The budget should be audited and the results of
\nthe audit reported at an annual meeting of parents.<\/p>\n
The principle of fairness must be upheld in determining
\nadmission fees and tuition, taking into account the economic
\nsituation of the students and the geographical area of each
\nschool.<\/p>\n
To build trust in the school committees, the mechanisms for
\nelecting members should be overhauled to allow for full
\nparticipation by parents. Now key posts on the school committees
\nat some public schools are occupied by people close to the
\nschools' principals, a situation that allow collusion between the
\nschools and the committees.<\/p>\n
There have been stronger calls for a greater transparency in
\nthe management of school budgets, the empowerment of school
\ncommittees and a revision of the system under which students are
\ngraded.<\/p>\n
The new school year is the right moment for such changes.<\/p>\n
Ardimas Sasdi is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post. He can
\nbe contacted at ajambak@berkeley.edu.<\/p>",
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