Experts warn of abuse of free education policy

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's plan to provide free education for elementary and secondary school students must be a long-term policy and not a short-term move to counter political pressure, activists say.

"The long-awaited decision to introduce compulsory free education must not merely be based on short-term considerations to ease the pressure after the recent fuel price increases," activist Bambang Widjojanto said earlier this week.

Earlier, the Ministry of National Education agreed with House of Representatives Commission X for education to allocate Rp 11.13 billion (US$1.19 million) annually to provide free compulsory education beginning with the next school year.

The money will be given to elementary and junior high schools nationwide in the form of block grants, whose amount will depend on the number of students at each school.

Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo said that since it was impossible for the government to cover the expenses of all students, the program would only include poor students. However, other students will benefit from limitations placed on the number and amount of fees schools will be allowed to charge.

The plan, however, has yet to be approved by the House's budgetary committee.

Bambang said guaranteeing access to basic education for all children still needed to be passed into law in order for it to have a binding effect on the government, thereby assuring the long-term nature of the policy.

"Grants given to schools should not merely cover their overhead costs, but should be part of a larger design to develop the education sector," he said. "The government must give priority to schools with problems regarding both infrastructure and quality."

Activists have raised concern over the possibility of abuse if the money is given to schools in the form of block grants.

Last month, members of the Jakarta City Council's public welfare commission found during a visit to junior high school SMP 232 that part of a grant extended to the school by the city administration, which was meant to assist 798 students from poor families, had been used to buy furniture, a television set and an air conditioner for the principal's office, as well as a photocopier.

Bambang said this case showed the block grant approach was prone to corruption and thus stricter supervision was needed. "We could empower a local micro-education movement involving teachers to help supervise the use of the funds," he said, mentioning the example of college students in Ujung Pandang monitoring corruption in their university and working with local radio stations to build up a local awareness of the problem.

Anticorruption activist Teten Masduki said granting direct scholarships or education insurance to students would be safer and more effective.

"If channeling the funds continues to depend on the bureaucracy, there will still be the potential for leakage. Giving the money directly to students can minimize this," he said.

Teten added that through the direct disbursement of scholarships or insurance, students would have the freedom to choose which school they wanted to attend.

The director of the Institute for Educational Reform at Paramadina University, Hutomo Dananjaya, said selective criteria should be established before giving the grants to schools.

However, he said the plan was a good start since 65 percent of the country's population had at best an elementary school education.

Because there are so many students that would be covered by the program, the government, if necessary, should issue bonds as a source of funding, he said.

"No one will object if the government issues bonds for education," Hutomo said. "It has been done to bail out the banking sector, so why not education?" (003)