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)