Action week to raise education budget
Action week to raise education budget
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), NGOs and the government will launch on
Monday an action week aimed at piling pressure on politicians and
local administrations to fight for a higher education budget.
Themed "The Big Lobby", this year's Education For All (EFA)
action week will enable dialogs between children and politicians
and local government officials. During the dialogs, the children
will present maps on the number of children not attending school
in their respective areas and the reasons for this.
The maps have been developed based on surveys on schools in
Kendari (Southeast Sulawesi), Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara),
Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan),
Bandarlampung (Lampung), Garut (West Java), and Bangkalan (East
Java),
"Hopefully the politicians and local governments will remember
these maps when they discuss next year's budget," said Mohammad
Aminullah, an education program officer for the British NGO,
Oxfam, on Friday.
The government has long been criticized for neglecting
education, which is apparent from the minuscule amount of funding
allocated to the sector in the state budget.
The amended Constitution stipulates that the national
government must devote 20 percent of the budget to education, but
the government has said this target can only be met in 2009 at
the earliest.
Indonesia was one of 181 countries to commit themselves to the
EFA in April 2000 in Dakar. This international commitment is
aimed at providing education for all by 2015 and focuses on early
childhood education and care, free basic education, equal access
to education, illiteracy, gender equity and the quality of
education.
"Indonesia's maps will be combined with those of other
developing nations and presented to the G-8 Summit in May to urge
developed countries to pledge more funds for education in the
developing countries," said Aminullah.
Indonesia recently completed its EFA national plan of action
along with the local plans of nine provinces -- Bali, West
Sumatra, North and South Sulawesi, West, Central and East Java,
Yogyakarta, and East Kalimantan.
"The action plans at the regental and municipality levels will
be developed this year," said the director of UNESCO's Asia and
Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Sheldon Shaeffer.
Other provinces are also expected to draft their provincial
action plans this year, but funds for the program are still being
sought.
Data from the Ministry of National Education show that in the
2000/2001 academic year, 7,223,253 children aged between seven
and 15 years old did not participate in the compulsory nine-year
education program. Another 9,113,941 children aged between 15 and
18 years old did attend high school.