Authoritarian principles 'may lead to graft'
The recent reports of alleged corruption cases in several state schools shocked Jakartans, particularly the parents of school children. As the current state budget for education is far less than 20 percent of the total budget, as mandated in the Constitution, many schools ask parents to pay maintenance fees.The Jakarta Post's Urip Hudiono has been looking into this issue. This is the first of three articles.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has, over the past year, uncovered graft cases in five schools in Greater Jakarta and three schools in Cimahi and Garut, West Java, although it has asserted that corruption in schools is widespread.
The IWC's investigator for public services, Ade Irawan, said the corruption watch had classified graft practices in schools into three groups:
The first is the drafting of different versions of the school budget to embezzle state funds. The headmasters, Ade said, would show one version -- with the funds accounted for -- to the Ministry of National Education, and another version to parents.
"The one they show to parents does not include state funds, so they can ask parents to pay extra fees or donate money," he said.
Ade said the ICW had even come across a new scheme in its investigation, whereby headmasters had corrupted building maintenance funds from both the state and parents. In the scheme, "keep our classroom clean" competitions were set up between classes.
"Students were told to contribute money for the purchase of brooms, mops, brushes and paint for the contest," he said. "The funds for providing trophies or prizes was nothing compared to what the principals swindled."
The second type of graft, Ade explained, was the embezzlement of state funds and parents' donations by manipulating the reported number of students.
Another type of corruption is the collusion of headmasters with local education agencies in the disbursement of state funds.
As a result of this collusion, funds for a school no longer depend on its needs, but on how much commission the agency gains.
"The commission usually gets 20 percent commission -- sometimes up to 40 percent," Ade said. "Many schools, which are actually in dire need of funding to renovate their buildings, simply cannot win such 'tenders'."
The ICW has, therefore, suggested that the current way of appointing headmasters be changed, given that many headmasters have absolute authority over the school's affairs -- including the drafting of its budget.
"Many school boards -- which are supposed to discuss and evaluate policies and programs before they are endorsed -- have become toothless rubber stamps, as their members are appointed by the headmasters," said Ade.
"Many parents and teachers don't even know about the school board, let alone its function."
Ministerial Decree No. 44/2002 on National Education obliges headmasters to work together in a transparent and accountable way with school boards, parents, teachers and students, in managing their school.
"Principals should no longer be appointed by agencies, but elected by school teachers," he said.
I-BOX
List of graft cases in schools in Greater Jakarta:
1. SD IKIP elementary school in Rawamangun, East Jakarta: The headmaster allegedly misused Rp 464 million (US$50,434) of state budget funds and examination fees since 2001.
2. SD 03 elementary school in Mangga Dua, West Jakarta: The headmaster allegedly appointed members of the school committee, who are supposed to be elected by teachers and parents. The headmaster allegedly embezzled Rp 24.63 million of state funds of Rp 28.12 million, which was allocated for a program to improve the nutrition of students.
3. SLTP 70 junior high school in Central Jakarta: The headmaster allegedly imposed various obscure fees on students over the past year, resulting in unaccounted funds of Rp 31.20 million each month.
4. SLTP 250 elementary school in Cipete, South Jakarta: The headmaster allegedly drafted the 2002/2003 school budget without the consent of the school board, resulting in the refusal of the board to approve it, when they found such irregularities as: - obscure expenses amounting to Rp 42.30 million - unrealized expenses amounting to Rp 73.69 million - two versions of the budget, one comprising state funds of Rp 771 million, the other, donations from parents totaling Rp 443 million.
5. SMP 2 junior high school in Balaraja, Tangerang: The headmaster allegedly reported that the school had accepted 400 new students in 2003, when it had, in fact, accepted 432, resulting in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 22 million in registration fees. In a similar case this year, 23 new students were not reported, resulting in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 18.83 million.
6. SMU 13 high school in North Jakarta: A former headmaster was reported to the Jakarta Police for allegedly misusing Rp 913.25 million of the school budget.
Source: Indonesian Corruption Watch and media reports