Officials defend action against vocational scholl

Officials defend action against vocational scholl

JAKARTA (JP): A senior official denied yesterday that his
office had not informed 21 vocational schools of poor performance
before asking them to stop receiving new students this year.

Alwi Nurdin, the head of administration affairs at the
Ministry of Education and Culture city office, assured that
proper procedures had been taken in order to prevent the public
from being victims of vocational schools that lacked ministry
requirements.

Alwi said the office issued on June 9 a list of vocational
schools that had failed to comply with major requirements in
education, such as adequate educational facilities and a minimum
number of permanent teachers.

At the end of last year, 65 vocational schools were told to
improve their performance, Alwi said.

"From that figure, 21 schools were reprimanded last month by
the office for poor management," he said.

So far none of the schools have shown any intention of
improving, he said after accompanying Minister Wardiman
Djojonegoro on an inspection of the first day of the state
university entrance exam.

Some school management representatives had said they had yet
to receive warning letters and said the ministry had no right to
close their schools.

George S. Watutman, headmaster of SMIP Pernas, said school was
running as usual because officials at the city office had
promised to grant him an operation permit this month.

"It's only the school's hotel section that has not received a
permit, so we've transferred students of the section to another
school in Rawamangun, East Jakarta," Watutman said.

At STM Telkom in Klender, East Jakarta, students said they did
not know of any warning to close their school.

Alwi said STM Telkom and another technical school, STM
Puspitek, also in Klender, used names which could mislead people
into thinking that bona fide institutions were behind them, such
as state-run PT Telkom and Puspitek, the government's Center for
Science and Technology Development.

"We found that the schools had no connection with either PT
Telkom or Puspitek," he said.

Kasito, a city official in charge of vocational schools, said
the list was issued with a message aimed at parents to be careful
about enrolling their children.

Among city office findings, he said, "STM Puspitek had no
drawing tables and other important apprenticeship tools, such as
saws and grindstones."

In South Jakarta, schools not allowed to take in new students
anymore included STM Gde Benyamin, SMEA Bina Putra Bangsa and
SMEA Gde Benyamin.

In East Jakarta, schools included STM Ristek Sari Mulya, SMIP
Tiara Indonesia, STM Darma Pusaka, STM Telkom, STM Cakung, SMEA
Darma Pusaka, SMEA Hasyril, STM Puspitek and STM Bina Tama.

In North Jakarta, schools included SMIP Pernas, SMEA Wijaya
Kusuma, SMEA Cordova, SMEA K Cahaya Kudus, SMEA Wijaya and SMEA
Ganesha.

And in West Jakarta, schools that were notified were SMIP
Cipta Duta Pertiwi, SMEA Tomang Raya, SMEP Mulia Bakti and SMEA
Fajroel Islam. (03)