38 school heads in West Java to travel abroad on study tour

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Amid growing concerns over the high cost of education in the crisis-riddled country, at least 38 state senior high school (SMU) principals in West Java have joined a one-week overseas trip to conduct a comparative study.

The principals are scheduled to visit Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand from Aug. 20 to Aug. 27, with their expenses being funded by the respective schools.

Bambang Sutrisno, public education subdivision head at the West Java office of education and who is responsible for initiating the plan, said here on Wednesday that the study was aimed at improving the quality of education in the city.

At least 24 officials from the West Java provincial education office will also join the overseas comparative study, and 20 of the 38 SMU principals were from schools in the provincial capital of Bandung, he said.

Rita H. Abdulkadir, public education subdivision head at the Bandung office of education, said the 20 principals were among the 24 her office had invited on the trip through a letter dated July 29.

The letter asked each principal who intended to join the trip to transfer Rp 8.5 million to bank accounts belonging to two officials at the Bandung office of education.

Rita said she distributed the letter after she received an invitation from the provincial education office for principals to join the study trip along with other local officials.

The principals of SMU Negeri 24, SMU Negeri 13, SMU PGII I and SMU BPI 2 turned down the invitation to join the trip.

Cucu Setiawan, one of the four principals who declined, said he decided not to go because the program had nothing to do with improving the quality of education and was a waste of school funds and therefore, parents' money.

"I've checked and found that the Bandung education office head is even not aware of the plan," he said.

Cucu said it was ironic that the plan was initiated amid growing concerns among parents over the high cost of sending their children to senior high schools in Bandung and other major cities across the country.

The itinerary of the study trip only includes visits to one school each in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

The trip appears to be dominated by recreational programs like shopping and visits to the Raffles statue, Singapore River and Chinatown in Singapore.

After visiting Singapore, the participants will leave for Bangkok to visit West Arun and Pattaya, and see the Tifany Show, the Bencing Show and the Thai Girls Show.

The principals will fly back to Singapore to visit a school before continuing on to Malaysia, where one school visit is planned before a trip to the Genting Highlands, a popular gambling resort.

However, Rita claimed that only 25 percent of the itinerary of the study trip consisted of recreational programs.

"Such recreational activities are aimed at easing fatigue and tiredness during the trip," she said.