Parents object to shoe company monopoly

JAKARTA (JP): A controversy is raging over a private shoe manufacturer selling its products directly to schools, seemingly with the Ministry of Education and Culture's endorsement.

Jakarta-based PT Aryo Nusa Pakarti has reportedly been working on an ambitious project to put shoes, bearing the logo OSIS, on the feet of 26.5 million elementary school students across the country.

According to the Kompas daily, the company has been selling its shoes direct to schools in the East and West Java provinces. A pair of shoes cost Rp 22,000 (US$7.50).

Some parents reportedly protested but felt obliged to buy the shoes because the deal had been arranged through teachers.

In response to the uproar, the company's operations manager, Supriyono, said profit was not the project's only aim.

"We also want to give poor students the opportunity to wear the same shoes as their well-to-do friends," he said at the West Java office of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

When asked how poor students would get a pair of the company's shoes, Supriyono said this would be arranged through "cross subsidy".

"For every 10 pairs we sell, we'll give one student a free pair of shoes," he said.

In addition, some of the profits would be donated to the government-supported Foundation of Foster Parents Drive and school cooperatives, he said.

But the foundation's West Java chapter denied any involvement in the plan, saying it had made no arrangements to receive donations from the company.

Head of the West Java provincial office of the Ministry of Education Mohammad Asjikin said the company had promised to pass the donations to his office.

"The project should not burden parents because they are under no obligation to buy the shoes."

He said the firm had been selling shoes to schools in the Bogor, Tangerang and Bandung mayoralties recently. He did not say how many schools or students were involved.

The shoes' logo, OSIS, stands for Inter-School Students Organization.

Supriyono insisted that the project had the ministry's approval.

"The Ministry of Education and Culture responded positively to our proposal (for school children to wear black, uniform shoes)," Supriyono was quoted by Kompas as saying. "It has no objection to us offering our shoes to students."

The Association of All Indonesian Shoe Industries (Aprisindo), which supervises the nation's registered shoe manufacturers, said it did not know of PT Aryo Nusa Pakarti.

Separately, Chairwoman of the Foundation of the Indonesian Institute for Consumer Supervision Hermina Sujono Hadi said she did not see any need for elementary school students to wear uniform shoes.

She also disagreed with a private firm being allowed to sell the shoes.

"Even if students are to have uniform shoes, the project should be given to school cooperatives," she was quoted by Antara as saying. (imn)