Businesses offered role in education
Dewi Santoso and Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The private sector should increase its role in education to help the government speed up the development of quality human resources, Minister of Education Malik Fadjar said on Friday.
Malik said the government's ability to fund the national education program was limited and conceded many people had difficulties affording education for their children.
"The government will continue encouraging the private sector to increase its support of the education sector. The government will consider giving incentives to private companies, organizations or foundations who pay special attention to education," he said after attending an awards presentation to five senior high school students who won at the recent Physics Olympiad in South Korea.
During the ceremony, the Bhakti Tanoto Foundation chaired by business tycoon Soekamto Tanoto, gave cash prizes to the five students and financial assistance to Prof. Yohannes who led the team preparing the Indonesian students for the annual event.
Malik urged major private corporations to raise trust funds to provide scholarships for talented-but-poor students of all ages.
Similar programs run by the Jefferson, Ford and Rockefeller foundations in the United States offered students from around the world scholarships in numerous disciplines in the United States, he said.
In Indonesia, the Sampoerna Foundation is offering scholarships for Indonesian students at all levels, and has invited companies to provide grants for disadvantaged high achievers.
Sampoerna Foundation marketing and communications director Sapto Handoyo Sakti said at the ceremony the cooperation was a win-win solution as it would benefit both students and companies.
"Companies can put their funds in (the foundation) and let us manage them. In return, their names -- not the Sampoerna Foundation's -- will appear as the scholarships' patrons," he said.
This would mean companies did not have to establish their own non-profit charity organizations to fund education, a more expensive option, he said.
Companies that have cooperated with the foundation are Fullbright Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), PT Siemens Indonesia, The Boston Consulting Group and Credit Suisse First Boston.
"As for the students, they will be able to continue their studies and pursue their dreams thanks to the scholarships," Sapto said.
Established in March, 2001, the Sampoerna Foundation aimed to create future leaders who could contribute to the country's sustainable development, he said.
To date, the Sampoerna Foundation has distributed 9,110 scholarships to senior high school students, 70 to undergraduate university students, 95 to local graduate students and nine to graduate students in the U.S.
As of the second quarter of this year, it had received Rp 6.05 million (US$642,460) in donations, of which 90 percent came from PT H.M. Sampoerna.