NGOs release 'education bill'

NGOs release 'education bill'

JAKARTA: Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
education activists have released their own version of the
education bill as a protest against the House of Representatives
and the government, which are now deliberating on an education
bill.

The NGOs and activists, which are united in the Plural Society
Group (Kumpul), announced their bill on Friday at the office of
Kapal Perempuan, and called it the "people's version of the
education bill."

Kumpul has demanded that the House postpone passing the bill
from the original schedule of May, saying that the House should
accommodate more aspirations from the public, especially from
"marginalized" citizens.

Kumpul, which has intensively formulated the public version
bill for almost three months, consists of NGOs whose constituents
are workers, domestic helpers, street children and many more.

"We have known about the bill since August last year," said
Yanti Muchtar, the director of Kapal Perempuan. "And the
government invited us to a hearing one day and we conveyed our
opinions. But apparently, they did not take our opinions
seriously and none of our items made it into the bill."

The bill, according to Kumpul, was full of superficial
religious thinking and market-oriented ideas. Moreover, they
thought the bill hampered schools and the public from creatively
running their own education programs in line with their visions
and missions.