JP/4/EDU

JP/4/EDU

Govt criticized for 'avoiding responsibility' in education

Hera Diani
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In many developed countries, if parents refuse to send their
children to school to enjoy free education they can be taken to
court.

Such a situation is not found in Indonesia, despite the fact
that the government is obliged by the amended 1945 Constitution
to finance primary education.

The government even imposes financial burdens on parents to
finance their children's education. Despite parents not being
able to afford to send their children to school due to poverty,
the government refuses to accept blame.

Activists have accused the government of trying to avoid their
responsibility to provide free, quality education, by making the
community shoulder the burden.

Instead of increasing the low national education budget from
only six percent of the budget -- among the lowest in the world
-- the government has issued policies that critics say shows that
it is neglecting the education sector. The Constitution requires
that at least 20 percent of the state budget be allocated to
education.

Yanti Muchtar of E-net (Education Network) for Justice
Indonesia told a recent seminar that the trend towards
"privatization" of education has strengthened, resulting in more
poverty.

She cited Article 7 of Law No. 20/2003 on the national
education system, which obligates parents to provide primary
education for their children.

"The law also obliges the community to provide resources to
carry out education, as well as putting the responsibility for
educational funding on the government, local administrations and
the community," Yanti said.

"Whereas, this is all the central government's
responsibility."

Other head scratching policies, Yanti added, included subsidy
cuts for public universities and turning them into corporations,
as well as the draft of a new government regulation on primary
and secondary education.

The draft did not stipulate the government's responsibility to
provide nine years of free, quality primary education, but
instead required the community to shoulder the burden.

"The policies breach the government's own commitments to the
United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in which
education-for-all should be achieved by 2015. The government has
agreed with the concept that guarantees that every citizen must
get a quality and free primary education," Yanti said.

E-net for Justice also revealed that local governments'
commitment is no better. For example, the Bogor regency
administration has only allocated 3.24 percent of its 2004 budget
for education. It also allotted only Rp 100 million for books and
libraries, compared to Rp 1.3 billion for civil servants'
uniforms.

Meanwhile, Revrisond Baswir of the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU)
said the government has allocated a much larger amount from the
state budget to repay foreign debt of around Rp 145 trillion
(some US$15.3 billion) per year.

"Compare that to the education budget of only Rp 14 trillion.
The biggest allocation of the state budget goes to the national
banking system. Clearly, the government's commitment to education
is very poor," he said.

Yanti said foreign donors, particularly the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank, had contributed to policies of reducing
the educational budget because they recommended that poor
countries seek alternative funding for education.

"They have argued that poor countries cannot afford to fully
finance their educational systems," she said.

It was the donor countries' way of keeping poor countries in
debt, she added.

Yanti and Revrisond urged the government to revoke all
regulations that did not support citizens' right to get an
education, as guaranteed by the Constitution.

The activists also called on people to push for a campaign
against foreign debt, so that repayments can instead be allocated
to public services, including education.