Is good education for the rich only?

Is good education for the rich only?

The number of private schools which are several times more
expensive than public schools are on the rise. Even these days,
in the midst of the country's gloom, private schools evidently
remain popular. The Jakarta Post's Ida Indawati Khouw, Maria
Endah Hulupi, and contributors I. Christianto and Prapti
Widinugraheni look into the issue. This report has been
prepared in conjunction with the National Education Day that
falls on May 2.

JAKARTA (JP): For the well-to-do family, no sum is too much
for a precious child's education and it has nothing to do with
conceit.

So between February and June every year, parents cannot avoid
the routine headache: finding new schools for their children
which are "good" but affordable. Even the students who have just
been promoted to the next grade have to be re-registered -- and
this means a lot of money has to change hands.

A parent registering her son at a private elementary school at
the upscale residential area of Puri Kembangan, West Jakarta,
reported that places were "auctioned off" at between Rp 3 million
and 12 million.

"This means that if you can afford Rp 12 million your child's
admittance is assured. If you haggle for around Rp 3 million,
your child would be put on the 'waiting list' although your child
already spent two years in the very same school," said the
parent.

Some private schools reportedly charge much more than that,
like Pelita Harapan in Karawaci, Tangerang, reportedly one of the
most expensive schools in Jakarta, which refused to disclose its
fees to the press.

Interestingly, parents' interest in sending their children to
expensive schools is very high. New ones are being built and
school parking areas are full of flashy cars.

Sending your child to an expensive private school is a status
symbol of the wealthy.

Muchtar Buchori, an education expert and former rector of
Jakarta Muhammadiyah University, has a theory on the phenomena.

"The growing number of expensive schools shows that people are
tired of mediocre education. Parents now want their children to
become high achievers. Successful schools or elite schools are
those that can bring students out of mediocrity," he says.

The main characteristics of elite schools are emphasis on hard
work and a balanced educational program.

"This means a balance between physical and mental exercises,
between physical sciences and social and human sciences, and
between knowledge about the present and the past. What happens in
our public schools is usually a reduction of all or some of these
characteristics," he says.

Genuinely good

The incredibly expensive school fees have given rise to fears
of "commercialization" of education. Schools are deemed profit
seeking and forget their noble mission.

Buchori agrees that while some expensive schools may be
genuinely good, others are simply commercial.

"Commercialization means that money collected from students is
not used to improve education services, infrastructure or
teachers' welfare, but is used entirely to enrich the school
organizers. Commercialization may also happen when policies are
determined solely by the school's foundation," he says.

In their defense, exclusive private schools argue that "good
education needs a lot of money", as Hannah Achmadi, public
relations officer of Sekolah Pelita Harapan says.

Money going into Pelita Harapan's coffers, she says, is used
for facilities and activities such as string orchestras, ballet
dancing, choir groups, traditional angklung, kolintang (bamboo
percussion instrument) and gamelan musical groups, sports
gymnasiums, Olympic-size swimming pools and equestrian
activities. The school also has a health center and a bookstore.

Apart from conducting activities at its own branches, Pelita
Harapan also provides financial and managerial support to small
schools in remote areas including Bengkulu, Lampung and Central
Java.

"In the second and third year at the senior secondary school,
Pelita Harapan offers the International Baccalaureate (IB)
program, which provides students a bigger chance of being
accepted at universities worldwide," she says.

Nasroul Hamzah of the Al-Azhar Islamic Education Foundation in
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, fiercely rejects the "school
commercialization" allegation.

"If a school is applying high tuition fees, there must be good
reason for it. Most likely the schools are improving their
quality or developing additional facilities for the students," he
says.

Henny Supolo Sitepu, a teacher at Al Izhar in South Jakarta,
where entrance fees average Rp 7.5 million and monthly tuition Rp
200,000 offers an interesting explanation.

A big proportion of school funds go to teacher development
programs which include sending teachers abroad to gain experience
and follow developments in education at the international level.

"We believe that the quality of the school is determined very
much by the quality of the teachers," Henny says. Therefore much
emphasis is put on teachers' welfare, which includes providing
them with a housing complex, complete with transport facilities
and a childcare center.

"I totally disagree with the view that quality schools are
provided merely for the rich ... It's like saying that exclusive
schools are always good while others are not. Quality is
determined by the teacher, and the quality of a teacher is not
determined by the luxury or facilities of the schools," she says.

Parents

Parents have their own reasons why they are willing to spend a
lot of money to send their children to expensive schools. They
have one thing in common, though -- that the good private schools
have the best teachers and best facilities.

Well-known private schools compete to lure prospective
students with modern facilities, such as laboratories and extra-
curricular activities that few public schools have.

Many parents cite security reasons for choosing a private
school. Others cite religious reasons. For example, religious
lessons at Islamic schools are considered better than that of
public schools. Some public schools do not offer religious
classes for Christian students on the grounds that they do not
have a teacher and students get their grades from the Sunday
school.

Housewife Debora, whose 4-year old son, Azarya, goes to a
Montessori kindergarten in Bekasi (40 km east of Jakarta), says:
"Indeed I feel my son's school fees are expensive. I paid a Rp
2.5 million entrance fee and continue to pay Rp 250,000 in
monthly fees ... but so far, I have no regrets."

She says the kindergarten has a "good education system" where
students are not taught to read and write, but learn practical
skills like sewing on buttons, washing dishes after meals and
playing with educational toys. The school also uses English as
the medium.

The steep cost of private schools combined with tough
competition to enter them and the determination of parents to see
their children get "good quality education" no doubt calls for
sound education planning.

Kusdiati Norman Indrajid, a housewife living in West Jakarta,
has already enrolled one of her daughters into SLTP Iman
Pengharapan Kasih (IPK), a junior secondary school in the
Greenville housing complex, West Jakarta, although the daughter
is still in the sixth grade of elementary school.

"I have already paid Rp 6.5 million as an entrance fee and Rp
290,000 in tuition fees," Kusdiati says, adding that the early
enrollment was "just to make sure my daughter enters a good
school".

In times when the per capita income is less than $700 and
poverty remains a major problem in the country, the fear that
good education is moving out of the poor majority's reach is
well-founded.