City plans to increase subsidy for state schools
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration has decided to increase subsidies for state elementary and junior high schools in the capital, but the hike might not be enough to provide free schooling as promised.
Head of City Basic Education Sylviana Murni said that the subsidy for school operational costs (BOS) would be raised from the current Rp 27,500 (US$2.75) per student per month to Rp 50,000 per student per month in 2006.
Aside from that, state schools still receive BOS funds from the central government worth Rp 19,500 per student per month.
"With the subsidy from the city administration and the central government, parents of elementary school students should not pay any fees (at all) as the schools' operational costs are already covered by the subsidies," Sylviana said.
Sylviana, however, admitted that it was still difficult to provide free schooling for junior high schools.
"For elementary school students, we have no problems because we have allotted the funds, but for junior high school students, it might be very difficult," she said, adding that the issue would be further discussed by City Councillers.
For junior high school students, the city administration will increase its subsidy from Rp 50,000 per student per month to Rp 65,000 per student per month next year, while BOS funds from the central government for each student will be Rp 27,500 per student per month.
There are some 640,000 elementary school students and 250,000 junior high school students in the capital.
Sylviana said that the operational costs for each junior high school student was Rp 150,000 per month.
She said that Governor Sutiyoso had supported the plan for free junior high schools and had asked her to discuss the issue with the City Council.
According to the draft city budget for 2006 submitted to the City Council early this week, the city administration allocated Rp 3.79 trillion to the education sector, 13.69 percent higher than the allocation for 2005.
Chairman of City Council's Commission E for education, health, and people welfare Dani Anwar said that the city would have to allocate Rp 100 billion more for the education sector if it wanted to provide free education at senior high schools.
"In principle, we will help the city administration earmark more money to cover elementary and junior high school operations. I believe that we can provide free education to all junior high school students next year," Dani told The Jakarta Post.
Interviews with some schools and students in the capital, however, suggested that free schooling in Jakarta was still long way off.
While some state elementary and junior high schools find the subsidies just enough to cover operational costs, some claimed the amounts were inadequate to cover school operations.
Amir Syarifuddin, a teacher at SDN Kebon Sirih 1 Pagi, said that with the subsidies his school would be able to provide students with some textbooks and finance several extracurricular activities.
But for a number of other schools, the money was not enough to cover their operational costs.
Sugimin, a teacher at SDN Menteng 1 Pagi in Central Jakarta, said that according to the school draft budget for 2006, the operational cost for each student in his school would be some Rp 80,000 per month.
According to the teacher, the money would be used to finance various extracurricular activities like computer and English courses and various sports, as well as for paying electricity bills.
"Classes in our school are equipped with air conditioners, therefore we must pay large amount on electricity bills," said Sugimin, who was given an award for being the city's "best teacher" by the city administration this year.