Govt moves to increase spending on education

Govt moves to increase spending on education

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of National Education and legislators are
demanding a hundred percent increase in the 2003 education
budget, from Rp 13.6 trillion (US$15.2 billion) as proposed by
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to about Rp 26 trillion, saying
the rise is crucial to achieve the goals of national education.

"The President had earlier proposed to increase the budget
from the current Rp 11.2 billion to Rp 13.6 trillion, but it is
still not enough to meet even the minimum requirement to support
development in the education sector," Minister of National
Education Abdul Malik Fajar said here on Monday after a hearing
with House of Representatives Commission VI on people's welfare.

The hearing on Monday was held to set up a schedule for the
deliberation of the national education bill. The ministry and
legislators expect to approve the bill in May next year.

"If this country is determined to develop the education sector
for the sake of the people as amended by our Constitution, I hope
the House will consider raising the budget to about Rp 26
trillion," Malik told The Jakarta Post after holding a hearing
with House Commission VI.

The House has yet to agree to Megawati's proposal for the Rp
13.6 trillion budget, which is only 4 percent of the 2003 state
budget. The proposed increase, made last month at her state
address on the eve of the anniversary of Indonesia's
independence, is far below the 20 percent mandated by the fourth
amendment of the Constitution.

Article 31 of the amended 1945 Constitution stipulates that
the state shall give priority to education by allocating a
minimum of 20 percent of the total state and regional budgets for
the country's education.

Legislator Heri Achmadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) said the Commission had assigned the
House's Budget Commission to increase the education budget to Rp
24 trillion, even though "the amount is not significant compared
to the number of Indonesian children who need to receive
education."

"If the government could allocate some Rp 23 trillion in
bailout funds for Bank Mandiri, why did it fail to propose a
higher budget for education?" asked Heri, also deputy chairman of
House Commission VI, referring to the largest state-owned bank.

According to Malik, the increase proposed by his ministry and
legislators will help improve the quality of education, including
in the restive areas of Aceh, Ambon and Poso in South Sulawesi
that need special attention.

Even in Java, which is close to the seat of the central
government, the picture is not at all rosy. In Garut, West Java,
for example, some 272,000 students have been forced to sit on the
floor because some 70 percent of the furniture at the regency's
1,500 elementary schools has been damaged due to poor maintenance
and natural disasters. The regency needs around Rp 60 billion to
rebuild 450 school buildings.

Farther from Jakarta, the picture is even bleaker. In Kendari,
Southeast Sulawesi, elementary school students in remote Tangkuna
regency have to collect Rp 2,000 every month to pay for their
teachers' salaries in an attempt to attract more teachers there.
Poor pay, remote locations and inadequate facilities have scared
teachers away from places like Tangkuna. Currently, there are
only three teachers there for around 100 students.

Prolonged conflicts have further worsened the situation. In
Aceh, more than 100,000 school-age children have missed school
over the last three years due to the armed conflict between
security forces and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

According to data at the Aceh Education and Culture Office,
160 private and state elementary and high schools have been badly
damaged since 1999 and none have been repaired so far.

Worse, the government has failed to guarantee the safety of
teachers in Aceh. The Aceh chapter of the All-Indonesia Teachers
Association (PGRI) reported last week that 50 teachers had been
killed and 200 others physically assaulted in the past two years.

During the three-year sectarian conflict in Maluku, thousands
of students attended classes in makeshift structures in refugee
camps because their schools had been damaged.