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)