Complaints on exam fee continues

JAKARTA (JP): Many elementary and junior high schools continue to collect state exam fees from students despite a government prohibition, an official disclosed on Monday.

The spokesman for the Ministry of National Education, Setiono, said all schools, including state, private and Islamic schools, had been instructed not to collect exam fees from students.

Setiono said the ministry had threatened administrative sanctions against those schools who defied the new regulation.

"Despite our order, we continue to receive complaints from parents about the fees," Setiono told The Jakarta Post.

The Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, in a joint decree dated March 21, provided Rp 161 billion from the state budget to cover the examination fees for students across the country.

The government is paying the exam fees for the more than 6.9 million elementary and junior high school students in the country. The fee is Rp 20,000 for each elementary school student and Rp 23,000 for junior high school student.

The national exam for junior high school students will take place from June 5 to June 7, while the test for elementary school students will be held from June 11 to June 13.

Ministry of National Education secretary-general Mahmuri Muchlas was appointed to head the team supervising the implementation of the government regulation.

The team has ordered schools to return any exam fees they collected from students or face sanctions.

The ministry has opened a hot line to field any complaints from students and their parents. People can telephone the ministry at 573-3125 and 574-1512, or send a fax to 573-3717. The public can also mail letters to the ministry at PO Box 10900.

"Since the hot line became operational last Friday we have received dozens of complaints from many regions," said Setiono.

Separately, the head of the Yogyakarta office of the Ministry of National Education, Sunardjo, said his office had not received any funds to pay for the exam fees, and was unsure when it would receive the money.

He said his office had not received clear information about the government's policy and there was confusion about what to tell parents.

In Ponorogo, East Java, the head of the local office of the national education ministry, Sartono, also said his office had not received any funds.

Sartono said he told schools in the regency to pay for the exam fees from their own budgets, promising them they would be reimbursed when his office received the money from the government.

"The schools are expected to use their own money, and when we have the received the funds I will pay them," Sartono said. (bby)