Teachers defend high school admission fees<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State school bosses argued yesterday that the
\nhigh admission fees for new students this year were being set
\npurely to enable the schools to cope with the prolonged economic
\nturmoil.<\/p>\n
In interviews with The Jakarta Post yesterday, school
\nprincipals and teachers urged the public, including parents and
\ncity officials, to appreciate that they were working with
\nlilliputian levels of funding from the government.<\/p>\n
People, they said, should also understand that the schools'
\nreasons for hiking the fees were to meet teachers' welfare needs
\nand to finance the increasingly high maintenance and running
\ncosts, such as buying stationery, that have soared in the wake of
\nthe rupiah's fall against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
The admission fees set last month by the city administration,
\nRp 33,500 (US$2.25) for junior high schools and Rp 38,500 for
\nsenior high schools, were obviously inadequate to finance the
\nstate schools' basic needs, they said.<\/p>\n
\"How can schools finance students' laboratory work and other
\nextracurricular activities?,\" questioned Arief Rachman, the
\nprincipal of SMUN 81 state senior high school, which is also
\nknown as Lab School.<\/p>\n
The tariff set by the administration, he said, \"was enough
\nonly for low-quality schools. Parents should be aware that they
\nshould strive for education as it's not for free.\"<\/p>\n
He reiterated that education for children was not something
\nwhich could be postponed even though the country was in an
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
\"Education is like people's need for food,\" said Arief, who is
\nalso a noted education expert.<\/p>\n
Ignorance<\/p>\n
Most state schools in the capital have ignored the city
\nadministration's guidelines and are collecting an average of Rp
\n50,000 per student.<\/p>\n
Arief's colleague M. Salim at SMPN 2 state junior high school
\nin Karang Anyar, Central Jakarta, said: \"So far, we have tightly
\nlimited our routine expenditure on, for instance, paper,
\nelectricity and water usage.<\/p>\n
\"How could we survive if students' participation is limited?\"<\/p>\n
Although city officials have repeatedly warned school managers
\nnot to hike fees beyond the level set by the government, many
\nschools see no alternative way to resolve their dilemma.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the head of the city education and culture office,
\nAlwi Nurdin, revealed that his office had questioned at least 50
\nstate school principals for allegedly overcharging students.<\/p>\n
Four of them would be demoted to ordinary teachers, he said.<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor for Social Welfare Affairs Djailani said last
\nweek that schools were forbidden to collect fees for uniforms,
\nbuildings and so on from students in an attempt to halt the
\nincreasing number of unschooled children and drop-outs.<\/p>\n
But parents yesterday were still complaining about the
\nattitude of some state schools.<\/p>\n
Nuriah, in her 40s, said that she was asked to pay Rp 230,000
\nby a teacher at SMPN 08 state junior high school in Central
\nJakarta for her child's admission fees and uniform.<\/p>\n
\"I heard that state schools are forbidden to organize the
\nsupply of student uniforms but the teacher told me that if I
\nbought the uniforms elsewhere, the color might be different,\"
\nsaid Nuriah, who finally had to borrow money from her neighbors
\nto pay the charges. (ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teachers-defend-high-school-admission-fees-1447893297",
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