Funds for school exams finally disbursed

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration started disbursing funds for school exams on Tuesday, one day after the exams started.

As usual, the administration blamed technical reasons behind the disbursement of the Rp 10.4 billion (US$1.1 million) funds.

"Due to technical reasons of the city budget, the fund could only be disbursed to the city's education agency today," city spokesman Muhayat said.

Muhayat claimed that the fund disbursement was a commitment of Governor Sutiyoso to free students from paying exam fees.

He rejected the possibility that the disbursement was deliberately delayed by officials in the administration who wanted to benefit from the funds.

"That's impossible. The procedures of the budget disbursement allows no chance for officials to deposit the money before it is disbursed," he said.

He said the Rp 10.4 billion was taken from an emergency fund of the 2002 city budget.

The national final exams for high school students started on Monday, while junior high school students start the test next week. The national exams for elementary school students will be held from June 10 through June 13.

Besides the national exams, schools also organize their own final tests for their students.

As there was no certainty about the disbursement of the funds, many schools collected exam fees from students.

Muhayat urged the schools to return the money.

"But if students paid for an end of year party, it may not be returned," Muhayat.

Some parents had complained that they were told to pay hundreds of rupiah for the exams.

According to data from the city administration, the final exams for elementary, junior and senior high schools in the city required Rp 29 billion this year.

The state budget allocates Rp 9.3 billion while the city budget allocates Rp 19.7 billion.

There are 138,352 elementary students, 150,099 junior high school students and 200,749 senior high school students in the city scheduled sit the final exam.

Since last year, elementary school students have been exempted from paying final exam fees as the city financed the tests. However, some parents complained that they still had to pay various fees, such as for a teachers' stipend for supervising the tests and a charge for an end of year party.