Complaints on exam fee continues

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)