House Member: Plan to Reactivate High School Fees a Step Backward

Habib Syarief Muhammad, a member of Commission X of the House of Representatives, has highlighted plans to reinstate the Education Development Contribution, or SPP, at senior high schools and vocational schools. The plan to reactivate school fees is occurring in West Java among other places.

Syarief assessed that the emergence of the SPP reactivation proposal at state schools signals a regression in the education sector. He said the government should instead be working to broaden access to education for all citizens, rather than shifting the funding burden back onto the public.

He noted that education is a fundamental right of every citizen. “That is why the state must continue its efforts to provide education that is free and of high quality,” he said in a statement on Friday, 17 July 2026.

He acknowledged that operational funding problems are a constraint for a number of state schools in West Java. However, he said, the solution taken by stakeholders should not impose costs on parents.

Moreover, Syarief said families choose to send their children to state senior high schools precisely because the financial burden is lighter, or even non-existent. Reintroducing SPP, he said, would inevitably weigh on families, particularly those on low incomes.

The National Awakening Party politician urged the West Java Provincial Government to study the SPP reactivation proposal thoroughly, including by optimising all available funding sources — from school operational assistance funds and regional fiscal support to other financing schemes that do not directly burden the public.

In addition, he asked the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to step in and supervise the issue of education funding in the regions. He said it is the responsibility of the central government to support the regions so that education services continue to run without burdening the public.

Syarief said the central government should already be mapping other regions experiencing education funding problems. “We must not allow each region to take its own policies, which in the end lead to rising education costs,” he said.