'I took out education insurance'

Many parents have complained about the expensive education, not to mention irksome "fees" at some schools, and have blamed the government for neglecting national education by not meeting the 20 percent budget allocation as stipulated in the Constitution. The Jakarta Post asked some Jakartans how they coped with trying to provide proper education for their children.

Bhakti, 33, works in an insurance company in West Jakarta. He lives with his wife and two children in Tangerang:

I applied for education insurance for my children when they were only a few months old. I'm sort of an insurance freak... I wanted to make sure that my children would get a proper education. I wouldn't be able to achieve this if I didn't save money, that's why I put it in insurance.

Insurance is important, because it's a kind of investment for their future. Tuition is getting more and more expensive every year, particularly compared to when I was in school.

My wife and I agree about sending our children to study abroad. If education fees here and abroad, let's say Singapore, is about the same, why should we send them to the so-called national-plus schools?

The curriculum in Indonesia flip-flops with each succeeding minister. There is no quality standard among schools here.

Djauhari, 48, is a taxi driver. He lives with his family and a grandson in Bekasi:

My first two children decided to work after graduating junior high school. They don't really like school. The third one is still in junior high. She and her elder sister help my wife at our five-and-dime kiosk before and after school.

She's the most serious one -- she wants to go to university.

But I don't even know where I'd get the money to send her to a good high school if she doesn't get top marks and be granted free admission.

We have two other children who need to go to school, you know.

-- The Jakarta Post