North Sumatra Governor Stresses School Committees Must Not Burden Students
Medan (ANTARA) - North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution has affirmed that the existence of school committees must not become a burden on students in the region.
On the contrary, he continued, school committees should ease the burden on students and parents, particularly with regard to Education Development Contributions (SPP).
“School committees should be created to lighten the burden on students and parents, not to become a burden,” Bobby asserted, accompanied by Mayor of Binjai Amir Hamzah, while opening the School Environment Introduction Period (MPLS) for state senior high schools, vocational schools and special schools across North Sumatra virtually at SMA Negeri 1 Binjai, North Sumatra, on Monday.
The Governor also highlighted the absence of any oversight of school committees to date.
In addition, school committees must be adept at seeking opportunities to help ease parents’ burden, such as through corporate social responsibility (CSR).
“So I ask the Head of the North Sumatra Education Office, if necessary, who supervises these school committees? Nobody. If we may look at it, perhaps the school committees need to be supervised,” he said.
He explained that school committee members elected must be parents of pupils at the school concerned, in accordance with Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 75 of 2016 on School Committees.
This is because his side has also found school committees whose members are not parents of pupils at the school in question, and the criteria for committee membership do not require being a notable figure or having a strong economic standing.
According to him, school committees must be adept at seeking opportunities outside the school, and should not be rough within it. “If it is merely a matter of chairing meetings and deciding on a figure, I think we don’t need a committee at all,” Bobby explained.
“It would be better for us to invite the children to agree collectively on a figure, let’s do it that way. Rather than the committee ultimately deciding on a figure that ends up weighing heavily, with very long-lasting effects. In the end, parents pressure their children,” he added.
The Governor said schools currently place an extraordinary burden on students and parents, particularly regarding the issue of SPP across 33 regencies and cities in North Sumatra.
“We asked parents what programmes we need to create. Their complaints, besides infrastructure, are that school fees are very expensive and sometimes they cannot afford to pay. Some pay Rp100,000, Rp50,000, so this is a burden on parents educating their children,” Bobby revealed.
The Governor said parents of pupils at schools hope the SPP can be waived, as it is a contribution and not an obligation.
“That is why this free SPP policy has been introduced. We ask for understanding: in terms of the budget, we have not yet been able to implement it across all 33 regencies and cities to waive the SPP, and only 10 regencies and cities have so far been covered,” he said.
“We promise that by 2029, all SPP at state senior high schools, vocational schools and special schools will be waived. We will implement this in stages up to 2029,” Bobby said.