Admission fees to be discussed

Admission fees to be discussed

JAKARTA (JP): The city education authorities will hold a
meeting with parents and senior school administrators next month
to negotiate additional school admission fees.

Head of the City Office of the Ministry of Education and
Culture, Kusnan Ismukanto, told reporters Monday that the meeting
would provide parents and school teachers with a chance to
discuss additional fees to be imposed on new students.

He added that the negotiations were planned to put an end to
the bitter complaints of parents regarding the requirement to pay
additional fees.

The parents have complained that some high schools have been
charging them hundreds of thousand of rupiah in additional fees
for the enrollment process.

Normally, parents are only required to pay admission fees and
the cost of a packet of school uniforms; both fees being set by
the city administration.

The admission fee for junior high school is Rp 35,000 ($16),
while the fee for commencing senior high school is Rp 40,000
($18). The cost of a packet of uniforms is Rp 55,700 ($25) and Rp
68,500 ($31) for junior and senior high school students
respectively.

Kusnan said that, while it was true that the schools in
question needed additional funds, there should be greater
openness about the uses to which the extra fees are put.

"It is not a secret that schools need additional funding to
finance their daily activities, but the purpose of the fees
should be made clear to the parents," Kusnan said.

The city education authority has ordered such schools to
postpone collection of the fees until after the meeting.

"Schools do not have to give back the fee to parents who have
paid the admission fees but we have ordered the schools not to
collect it from those who have not yet paid it until the
meeting," Kusnan said.(yns)