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.