Free Ebtanas for elementary, junior high school students
Free Ebtanas for elementary, junior high school students
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of National Education has allotted
Rp 161 billion (US$16.1 million) to pay the National Examination
(Ebtanas) fees for elementary and junior high school students,
the ministry announced on Wednesday.
"The funds are ready to be disbursed. The parents and students
no longer have to worry about the fees or any other levies.
"We will hold a meeting on March 22 to coordinate the matter
with related institutions, especially local administrations'
offices of education since they will be in charge with regional
autonomy," Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin said.
The ministry's data for 2001 shows there are a total of
4,191,298 elementary school students who will take the National
Examination and 2,784,595 junior high school students taking the
exam, which is usually given in May.
Previously, the Ebtanas fee for elementary and junior high
school students varied from between Rp 20,000 and Rp 40,000,
depending on the price of the test materials and production costs
in the area.
The Rp 161 billion set aside to pay the exam fees will cover
all expenses, including printing, distribution and the honorarium
given officials involved in administering the exam.
"As for high school students, the fee should be covered by the
local administrations since it has been included in the General
Allocation Fund," the secretary at the Directorate General for
Primary and Secondary Education, Baidlowi, said in his office on
Wednesday.
He also said all of the test materials and answer keys were
being kept by the National Examination Center.
"The test materials will only be distributed near the date of
the exam and only by appointed people in order to avoid possible
leakage.
"Certain distribution arrangements also have been established
for strife-torn or remote areas," Baidlowi said.
Yahya urged local governments to ensure they had adequate
funds to pay the National Examination fees for the some 1.7
million high school students in each province.
"We hope that there will be no fees charged to the parents or
the students. But since (the administrations) are in charge under
regional autonomy, it is up to them.
"The central government can only produce policy guidelines,
but basically we want the National Examination to be free for all
students," Yahya said.
The minister admitted that some regions had not yet
established their education offices.
"Everything is new during this era of regional autonomy and a
lot of infrastructure and systems have to be adjusted," he said.
Earlier in the day, Yahya said during a hearing at the House
of Representatives that his ministry was doing what it could to
provide an education for children in areas hit by natural
disasters and violence.
"An additional Rp 5 billion has been allotted for flood
victims in Aceh and a similar amount for Irian Jaya. An ongoing
alternative education scheme is being run in the provinces of
Maluku and North Maluku.
"We have limited funds, but we are expecting donors to help
us," he said. (edt)