Police to pursue alleged graft in block grant fund for schools
Police to pursue alleged graft in block grant fund for schools
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The police said on Wednesday they would investigate the alleged
misuse of a block grant by officials at SMP 232 junior high
school in East Jakarta, even if the City Primary Education Agency
and City Council agree to let the City Audit Agency handle the
matter.
"We will continue our investigation into the case. We are
still collecting evidence," the top detective at the city
police's corruption division, Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono, told
The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Anton said the police investigation had "nothing to do with
any internal decisions made by the (education) agency on settling
the case".
The alleged misuse of the block grant came to light after city
councillors discovered that about Rp 133 million of assistance
funds meant for 798 poor students at SMP 232 in Pisangan,
Pulogadung, East Jakarta, had been used to purchase furniture, a
TV set, a photocopier and an air conditioner for the principal's
office.
Police have questioned the school's principal, Tri Djumena,
and vice principal, Sylviana Murni, as witnesses in the case.
The City Council and the City Primary Education Agency agreed
on Tuesday to revise the guidelines on the use of block grants to
allow schools to spend the money according to their needs.
Education agency officials and councillors from Commission E
overseeing education, health and welfare continued to discuss the
revision to the guidelines at a hotel in Central Jakarta on
Wednesday.
"Deliberations are still underway. We expect to come up with
the final revision on Thursday," agency head Sylviana Murni told
the Post.
Sylviana declined to provide any details of the planned
revisions.
However, Commission E chairman Dani Anwar said the commission
would require the agency to spell out any fund allocations to
avoid any misinterpretations as a result of ambiguous clauses.
"The guidelines on the use of block grants must be specific to
avoid misinterpretation," said the councillor from the Prosperous
Justice Party faction.
He said his commission would prevent school officials from
using block grants for non-education purposes.
"We need to limit the autonomy of schools," Dani said.
According to Law No. 20/2003 on national education, school
officials and parent committees have the authority to draft a
school's budget.
The problem is, Dani said, some schools make changes to the
budget in the middle of the budget year, adding to the burden on
students.
"We will advise the education agency to prevent school
officials from changing their budgets because these changes
sometimes mean students have to pay higher school fees," he
said.
He also urged school officials to keep parents informed about
the educational activities at their schools through regular
letters.