'Free schooling for children would be good news indeed'

'Free schooling for children would be good news indeed'

Not all state schools, some of them the popular ones, are
impressed with the Jakarta administration's policy to provide
free education for all children. Arguing that the money given by
the administration was not sufficient to cover the school
expenses, they want more money, and so will continue to collect
it from students. The Jakarta Post asked residents about their
opinions on the issue.

Rasyid, 36, is a resident of Cipulir subdistrict in South
Jakarta. He works as a security guard with a private company in
Grogol, West Jakarta:

It is really good news if the city administration really wants
to begin free schooling for students of elementary and junior
high schools. It will help low-income families, who are burdened
with various school expenses.

But I have heard about free tuition for elementary schools for
several years. But in reality, the school that my children go to
still takes money from us for extracurricular programs and other
expenses.

We hope that this year, the city administration will make it
free for all students in elementary and junior high schools. If
the plan is really realized, we will use the money for buying
textbooks for our children.

The recent price increase has affected us very much because
spending for our daily transportation from my house to the work
place has almost doubled. Meanwhile, my salary has not changed.

Pardi, 40, lives in Palmerah subdistrict, West Jakarta. He has
two children in elementary school. He works as a public minivan
driver:

Frankly, I am pessimistic that there will be truly free
schooling next year because the government made similar
announcements years ago.

The school that our children go to indeed has free tuition.
But the school still collects money from us for school committees
and various other activities. So what is the difference? We still
spend a lot of money for the education of our children.

But if the city administration really wants to provide free
schooling, I will express my gratitude because such a policy
would be very helpful for low-income families like us.

We can allocate tuition money for other necessities like
private courses for my child, who is now in the sixth grade, so
that she will have good grades.

-- The Jakarta Post