Parents unfamiliar with school bodies
Recent reports on alleged corruption cases at several state schools shocked Jakartans, particularly parents. As the current state budget allocated for education falls far short of the 20 percent mandated in the Constitution, many schools ask parents to pay maintenance fees.The Jakarta Post's Urip Hudiono has been looking into the issue. This is the second of three articles.
Although a school committee, or Komitas Sekolah, has a vital role in a school's management and operations, few parents and community figures take the initiative to join one, as was observed at some of the schools now facing allegations of budget misuse.
"We have to admit that many parents still don't take part in the school committee, because the concept was only formulated and implemented two years ago," said Suryadi, school committee secretary at state junior high school SMPN 250 in Cipete Utara, South Jakarta.
Suryadi, the physical education teacher at SMPN 250, added that only several parents representing each class had attended the committee election. The school has a student body of 800 divided among 20 classes.
"But fortunately, after the committee began its task of working together with the principal in managing the school, many other parents came to take part in our meetings, especially in the school budget meeting held every August," he said.
Committee head Soebandrio, a parent, had questioned the school's former principal last October on the use of Rp 1.2 billion (US$141,176) from the 2002-2003 school budget.
The City Education Agency closed the case by simply transferring the principal to another school. As of now, no formal investigation has been conducted.
The school committee scheme was established in compliance with Ministry of National Education Decree No. 44/2002, supplemented by Law No. 20/2003 on national education system, which stipulate that education is not the sole responsibility of the government, but also of parents and the greater community.
The committees are thus tasked with monitoring and evaluating the monthly financial reports of their respective schools, copies of which must be filed as a public record with the education agency, its municipal offices and school committees, and are subject to public audits.
A general lack of knowledge on the principles and fundamental functions of a school committee had left a loophole for corruption, so that many committees were mere rubber-stamp bodies manipulated by principals, said a coalition of non-governmental organizations focusing on educational issues.
The situation has thus left much room open for suspicions, and Sulastri, principal of state elementary school SDN IKIP in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, was recently accused of colluding with the school committee to misuse the school budget.
She has denied the allegations that she single-handedly appointed committee members for her own benefit.
"All committee members were transparently elected by the students' parents," she said. "We even put up banners on the streets asking anyone from the public concerned about the school to join and register as candidates."
Sulastri and the school committee were accused of misusing an estimated Rp 464 million in state funds and examination fees since 2001.
"The reason for setting up two budgets was to make a clear distinction between school expenses that would be covered by state funds and those that would be covered by funds from parent donations, and to enhance accountability for both," she said.
Sulastri said the school had received donations from parents to cover the school's annual expenses of some Rp 2 billion, as the Rp 46 million in monthly disbursements of state funds was only enough to cover the teachers' salaries and their transportation expenses.
"But I always consult the committee when making a decision on any school policies, including drafting the budget," she said.
SDN IKIP school committee head Arsyad Kasmar backed up Sulastri's explanations and added that all committee meetings were open to parents, although only a few participated regularly.