Govt urged to review tax on private schools

JAKARTA (JP): Education exerts have urged the authorities to review their policy of imposing a property tax on private schools, arguing that the burden is too heavy for the schools to shoulder.

Tunggul Siagian, chairman of the Private Schools Council, told the press yesterday that the tax is ultimately paid by students' parents, who have already complained about school fees.

"By imposing such a tax on private schools the government is only provoking us to commit suicide," Siagian said.

He said that many private schools are not in any position to increase school fees. Citing an example, Siagian said the Jakarta Christian Schools Association, of which he is the chairman, is in that position because the students' parents have long complained about high school fees.

He said that most of the 22 Christian schools in Jakarta are laboring under a Rp 300 million (US$148,500) deficit.

The quality of education in Indonesia is far below that in other Asian countries, he said.

Siagian added that the withdrawal of government teachers who are assigned to private schools has created a problem and the property tax represented yet another.

"Last year the Christian schools received from the government Rp 220 million in aid. Although the figure is small it still helps us a lot," he said.

The Ministry of Finance has imposed a special tax on private schools whose buildings are 2,000 square meters or more, or consist of three stories or more, or stands 20,000 square meters of land or more, or which accommodate 3,000 students or more.

Siagian said that, in this situation, it is very difficult for Indonesia to prepare educated people for the future.

"Fees at several schools are very expensive, but compared with the need for education it's nothing," he said.

"Education is the responsibility of both government and the private sector," he said.

"I'm very disappointed that the minister of education and culture hasn't made any response to the policy," he said.

He said that most students' parents think that the government should be on their side.

"They are at a loss as to what the government really wants," he said.

Siagian added that he felt very sorry that no politicians had yet paid attention to educational problems.

"Nobody has noticed the implications of the problem for our future," he said.

According to Siagian, the Ministry of Finance only thinks about its own tasks, without taking into consideration the interests of the nation as a whole.

He said the budget of the Ministry of Education and Culture is only about 3% of the country's GDP, or 15 percent of the State Budget of the current year.

"Some people think that education is synonymous with recreation and that is not true," he said.

"Going to school is only a part of coming of age -- that's what most parents think," he said.

Meanwhile Thoby Mutis, an economics expert, told reporters yesterday that the government should not discriminate between public and private schools in the matter of taxation.

"According to the law on education, public and private schools should be treated equally," he said.

"Tax officials might think that private schools are only after profit," Thoby said.

If they think private schools are very lucrative businesses they can change them into firms, he added.

Instead of paying property tax, he said, private schools should provide more scholarships to students from the less privileged groups in society. (05)