Mega slams parties pledging free education

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri criticized on Wednesday political parties promising free education, saying that there was no such thing as free or cheap education.

"We all know that education is expensive, so it is just unrealistic when some people offer free or cheap education," Megawati said during a ceremony to mark National Education Day on Wednesday.

Some political parties, including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), promised to provide free or cheap education during the campaign for the April 5 legislative election.

"Such promises are false," Megawati said.

The government, according to Megawati, was trying to fulfill its obligation under the 1945 Constitution to allocate at least 20 percent of the State Budget to the education sector.

"But I know even that is not enough. Parents have to pay a lot more than the amount the state allocates to finance the education of their children," Megawati said.

Financing has always been a major problem for schools, with many facing difficulties in funding the compulsory nine-year education scheme.

The government has said it has been trying to increase the budget allocation for the education sector since 2001 but has so far only managed to allocate around 20 percent of development expenditure on the sector.

"With our budgetary constraints, only those with money can afford a good education, while the poor cannot afford to send their children to school and thus they end up having to work as unskilled laborers," Megawati said.

The President appealed to reputable and private schools to provide scholarships for those who had the talent but could not afford to go to school.

"Through this forum I would like to ask these educational institutions to provide scholarships for those who are talented but cannot afford education. I would also ask for the rich to cross-subsidize the poor so that their children can go to school," she said.

"It would be wrong for educational institutions to only think about profit and ignore their responsibilities to educate the people," she added.

Megawati also said that the government would try to increase budget funding for the education sector in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Minister for National Education Malik Fadjar stressed the importance of encouraging competition among students.

"In the globalization era, our young people will have to compete with their peers from around the globe, and so we have to set standards so that our children can compete," the minister said.