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.