Bigger education budget 'not feasible'

Bigger education budget 'not feasible'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Lawmakers have turned a cold shoulder to the Constitutional
Court's ruling that obliges the government to increase the
education budget, citing financial constraints as their
rationale.

Emir Moeis, who heads the House of Representative's state
budgetary committee, said the issue had to be viewed
pragmatically as the funds simply were not there.

"We still have high subsidies for fuel, electricity,
agriculture and so on. If we are pushed to increase the budget
allocation to 20 percent, we're going to either have a large
budget deficit or budget cutting for other sectors," he told The
Jakarta Post on Friday.

The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday in its judicial
review of the national education law that the government must
allocate at least 20 percent of the state budget and regional
budgets for education.

The percentage is in accordance with the amended 1945
Constitution, and should take effect in 2006 instead of a gradual
increase as initially planned by the government.

The court noted that this country's education system was
lagging behind others in the region in terms of quality, and thus
its improvement should be a priority.

"We haven't decided on the budget allocation yet, but
technically, it's impossible to reach 20 percent. Unless, we want
to go deeper into debt," said Emir, who hails from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

The government had for this year allocated Rp 24.6 trillion
(around US$2.4 billion) -- 9.29 percent of the total expenditures
-- for the education sector through the national education and
religious affairs ministries, which is a 33 percent increase from
its allocation last year.

While the amount seems larger, it is actually lower by
percentage as the government's revised expenditures had also
increased to Rp 411.6 trillion.

For the 2006 state budget, the government has proposed a total
of Rp 31.3 trillion for the education sector, from the
government's Rp 375 trillion planned expenditures.

Legislator Andi Matalatta, who heads the Golkar faction in the
House said that while the 20 percent allocation seemed an
impossibility, other ministries would also budget for education-
related activities.

"We're doing all we can to fight for the amount (20 percent).
But we have to look at the state's financial ability. Besides,
there are many efforts to improve the quality of human resources,
not just through the national education ministry. Other
ministries also have education and training programs," he said.