Parents unfamiliar with school bodies

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.