Economic crisis dries up education ministry's energy

JAKARTA (JP): The education sector, the most vital human resource investment, has been hit hard by the ongoing crisis, which is still showing no signs of recovery.

More than 20 million school-age children may not have the chance for an education because the funds and facilities allocated for this sector are inadequate.

While the cost of sending children to school has dramatically increased, millions of parents have lost their jobs, making it impossible for them to finance their kids' education.

Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said this situation is very serious, and a burden for the affected families as well as the government.

"This means that the government has to provide a large subsidy to enable children eligible for school to continue their schooling," he said.

The ministry's data revealed a gloomy picture. According to the data, the number of dropout students reached 8,156 in Jakarta alone by the end of l998.

Reports from school principals in Jakarta revealed more depressing facts. Around 110,000 students, from elementary to high school level, have asked to be exempted from paying monthly tuition fees.

Thousands of students in private schools in Jakarta have not paid their tuition fees for more than four months because their parents are jobless.

The government has already exempted elementary school students from paying school fees. However, some schools have parents' organizations that collect donations from parents to support operational costs and students' extra-curricular activities.

Students of state junior high schools and senior high schools in Jakarta are still required to pay school fees between Rp 7,500 and Rp 15,000 per month, excluding costs of extra-curricular and supporting activities, which can be more than Rp 50,000 a month.

In Central Java, and other provinces outside Java, the condition is far more depressing. Around 73,000 elementary school children have dropped out, while 225,000 school-age kids were unable to enroll at elementary schools in Central Java.

To help those unfortunate kids, the government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other donor institutions to set aside Rp 1.7 trillion in social safety net funds for securing national education programs for the l999/2000 academic year.

Previously, the World Bank provided US$500 million in soft loans to support the country's education sector, which is collapsing.

The social safety net funds are allocated to provide scholarships for 1.8 million elementary school children and 1.5 million junior high school students.

Each elementary student receives Rp 30,000 every three months, while junior high school students get Rp 60,000.

"The social safety net programs are still underway and we are closely monitoring their implementation across the country's 17,000 islands," explained the minister.

He admitted that the programs are far from perfect and need to be evaluated every three months.

"A lack of human resources and secure distribution and monitoring systems have slowed the programs' implementation," he explained.

In this critical time, the government is focusing on helping the worst-affected poor groups. In addition to the social safety net fund, the government also launched a pre-registration program to anticipate the increasing number of school dropouts in the l999/2000 academic year.

Under the program, which costs Rp 6 billion, poor students from elementary and junior high schools could be registered at the nearest school. Older students who plan to quit school would be financially supported to continue their studies.

For 30,000 high school graduates from poor families wanting to enter state universities, the government has designed a special scholarship scheme for the l999 to 2003 academic period.

Each year, assistance will be given to 5,000 students.

Every student will get Rp 45,000 for taking part in university exams (UMPTN), if he or she is accepted in one of the state universities, the government will provide one-year tuition fees.

"The government will continue to search for additional funds for these students to prevent them from quitting their university education," he said.

Funds for pre-registration and university scholarship schemes were not derived from the state budget but from the mobilization of private and individual resources.

"It is impossible for the government to work alone without full support from the private sector, non-government organizations, religious groups and the community," Juwono said.

The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) has made a great contribution by launching the program Aku Anak Sekolah (I am a Student), which provides scholarships for millions of needy students.

Around 850,000 students were saved under the National Foster Parents Programs (GNOTA), which allocated Rp 60.33 billion for scholarship and monthly allowances.

A large number of companies, including PT Astra International, Citibank, PT Sampoerna, the Indonesian Child Welfare Foundation and many others, have also participated in providing education funds.

Minister of Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution, for instance, recently launched a plan to use forestry funds for educational purposes.

He suggested that forest concession-holding companies set aside US$2 per cubic meter of wood taken from Indonesian forests for education aid.

Indonesia produces around 23 million cubic meters of wood annually. This means the educational fund from forestry could amount to about $46 million. (raw)