City says no to dissolution of school committees

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday that he supported the existence of school committees as a mediator between parents and school managements, rejecting the idea of dissolving them as recommended by several councillors.

"If the committees do something wrong, please straighten them out. But do not dissolve the committees," he said.

Sutiyoso asserted that the role of the committees was very important because it was the only forum for parents to be involved in providing additional facilities for the school.

However, he admitted that there should be a regulation to exempt poor students from paying fees equal to the amount paid by those who are from higher income families.

"The poor students should be subsidized by the rich. Better still, the schools should exempt poor students from paying fees," he remarked.

City Council's Commission E overseeing people's welfare criticized school committees on Wednesday amid reports that some committees had imposed exorbitant school fees regardless of the financial capability of the parents.

The committees turned out to be an additional burden for students rather than a relief, said councillor Audi Z Tambunan.

Audi referred to media reports that parents had complained of having to pay high fees that ranged from Rp 2 million (US$224,700) to Rp 7.5 million per student.

Audi said that the commission had summoned the heads of both the Jakarta Elementary School Education Agency and Jakarta Middle and High School Education Agency to seek clarification.

Head of the middle and high school education agency Margani Mustar defended the presence of the school committees in compliance with Law No. 20/2003 on the National Education System.

Margani said the committees' objective was to garner greater participation from the public in developing education amid the government's low budget for education.

However, Margani said that the agency was preparing a circular as a guideline on contributions and solutions for poor students to ensure that no student dropped out of school because they could not afford the fees.