Education budget criticized

JAKARTA: An educationist has criticized the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for lacking the commitment to boost the country's education sector.

Chairman of the Indonesian Pedagogy Association Sudiyarto said that the administration had failed to boost funding for the education sector to at least 20 percent of the state budget as stipulated under the country's amended Constitution and Law No. 20/2003 on education.

Speaking at a discussion held on Saturday to evaluate the performance of Susilo and his Vice President Jusuf Kalla after one year in office, Sudiyarto said that the government had instead decided to take a gradual approach to meet the target.

For this year, the government has only allocated 8.2 percent of the state budget for the education sector, an amount that would gradually increase during the next couple of years to reach the 20 percent target by 2009.

He said that increasing the budget allocation for the education sector was urgent and should have become the government's top priority in order for the country to catch up with its neighboring countries. --Antara