Government starts phasing in free schooling scheme

Government starts phasing in free schooling scheme

JAKARTA (JP): With the start of the new school year this week,
the government has begun to phase in the free schooling program
at the junior high school level, mindful that there will be
difficulties due to budget constraints.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro has
issued decree no. 151/1994, freeing parents from the obligation
to pay for admission and monthly tuition fees for the schooling
of their children at junior high schools.

State primary schools are technically free but in practice
parents are still expected to make various "contributions", in
most cases linked to their level of income.

Under the new decree, whose existence was only made public
yesterday, the government will subsidize the cost of junior high
schools by giving out funds from the state budget.

The decree, however, also permits school administrators to
solicit funds from parent-teacher associations, voluntary donors
and from the public.

The free schooling scheme is being launched as part of the
new, expanded, nine-year compulsory education program which
begins this year. Under the program, all children from six years
above must attend the first six primary education and three years
of junior high schools.

Yesterday, a team from the Jakarta Education and Culture
Office visited a number of junior high schools to popularize the
free school scheme and learn of possible obstacles.

The team, accompanied by journalists, visited SMIP, the state-
run tourism high school, the SMA 54 high school, and the SMP3
junior high school.

Kusnan Ismukanto, administration coordinator of the Jakarta
Education and Culture office, told reporters during the visit
that the decree seems like it will be difficult to implement as
most schools still rely heavily on funds contributed from
parents.

"Most schools still rely on funds from parent-teacher
associations to run their program and build better facilities,"
he said. He added that tuition fees were easier to phase out
because at state junior high schools they average Rp 1,500 (70
U.S. cents) a month.

Admission fees

"Most schools will also continue to charge admission fees but
we've tried to keep them as low as possible," he said.

The funds from admission fees are used for orientation
programs for new students and for financing the activities of the
student organizations, Kusnan said.

The entrance fee averages Rp 35,000 ($15) for junior high
school and Rp 40,000 for high school students.

Head of the planning section of the Jakarta Education and
Culture Office, Ending Karnadi, said during the tour yesterday
that the city authorities have expanded the number of seats at
junior high schools in Jakarta by 10 percent to accommodate the
increasing number of applicants.

This year, a total of 135,332 people applied for admission at
state junior high schools in Jakarta but only 95,780 were
accommodated.

To overcome the shortage, the education authorities plan to
make some of the existing primary school buildings work double
shifts, allowing junior high schools to use the facility in the
afternoon.

Ending said the authorities have also set up four 'open-
schools' for poor children at Jakarta's respective mayoralties.

These schools are funded by state budget.

"They will study by using module systems. They will be given
books to read and homework. Then, they will ask questions about
anything they don't understand in class, which is guided by
tutors. The class will be held twice a week," he said. (prs)