Jakarta mulls Rp 2.5t for education

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta will likely allocate some 18 percent, or about Rp 2.5 trillion (US$277.78 million) of its 2005 budget, to the education sector as the City Council and the administration have nearly reached agreement on the issue.

"In principle, most of councillors have no objection to the budget proposal for education," Syamsidar Siregar, a senior member of the City Council's Commission E on education, health and people's welfare, said on Wednesday.

She said many of the councillors had demanded the city allocate 20 percent of its Rp 13.93 trillion budget next year for the education sector as ruled in the Constitution.

According to the draft of city development plan, the base document to decide next year's budget, most of the education money will go to the construction and renovation of school classrooms.

There are two agencies in the city responsible for education; the City Basic Education Agency, which has requested funds of Rp 1.6 trillion, and the City Middle and Higher Education Agency, which has asked for Rp 900 billion.

This year, the education sector was allocated Rp 800 billion from the Rp 12.26 trillion city budget, or about 15 percent of the total.

Basic Education Agency head Sylviana Murni said in her report to Commission E that 1,940 classrooms in kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools remained in a serious condition and needed to be repaired.

The proposed budget also puts Rp 278.71 billion toward subsidizing education for the poor, another Rp 114 billion for a publicity campaign advertising this, Rp 150 billion for the improvement of school equipment, and Rp 73.66 billion to improve the quality of basic education.

Syamsidar said although many councillors had agreed to allocate a large amount of money to education, they had not yet agreed on the detail of the programs.

"The councillors will closely look at these programs during the deliberation of the draft budget," she said.