Eight school principals fired for collecting illegal levies

Eight school principals fired for collecting illegal levies

JAKARTA (JP): Eight principals of state junior and senior high
schools in the capital have been dismissed for collecting illegal
levies from students' parents, an official said Tuesday.

The head of the regional office of the education and culture
ministry, Alwi Nurdin, said his office was also considering the
future of three other principals of state-owned primary schools
for similar misconduct.

"All of them were found guilty of charging the parents much
higher entrance fees and BP3 compulsory contributions than the
amount set by the government," he said.

The BP3 contribution is collected by the schools under the
auspices of the Parent-Teacher Association, whose acronym is BP3.

According to Alwi, the schools run by the "guilty" principals
had collected money from parents by asking them to pay additional
charges from as low as Rp 1,000 to Rp 350,000 (US$26.75) per
student.

The official rate for the BP3 contribution is Rp 33,500 for
junior high school students and Rp 38,500 for senior high school
students.

Alwi, however, did not disclose the names or schools of the
principals who have joined the long list of unemployed in the
city.

He said the eight principals were among 31 who were
investigated following reports from parents that their schools
had collected illegal levies.

Another three principals, Alwi said, had been demoted and
removed to other schools, while the rest were either given
official notice of poor performance or less stern written
reprimands.

"We investigated a total of 50 principals who were reported by
the parents for burdening the latter with illegal fees, but only
31 people were found guilty of committing the malfeasance," he
said.

Alwi vowed that his office would continue to monitor all state
schools in the capital in order to reduce the possibility of them
charging unofficial fees which would increase parents' burden
during this time of hardship. (cst)