Principals told to understand students' plight

JAKARTA (JP): Elementary school principals have been instructed not to force new students from poor families to wear school uniforms and to exempt them from admission and various other fees, a city official said on Thursday.

Head of the city's education and teaching agency Masrul Nim said school principals should be more flexible in their policies related to anything requiring money.

"People are still facing economic difficulties due to the crisis and some of them are even unable to send their children to school.

"The most important thing now is that needy children go to school, that's why would be unproportional if they were still obliged to wear uniforms when they could not afford them," he said.

Masrul said that it would eventually be up to the Parent- Teacher Association (BP3) to determine a way for needy students to get school uniforms and other materials.

"The association was established with the aim of supporting others, that's why it should seek a way to help the students," he said.

Data from the agency shows that 46,129 elementary school children have the potential to drop out of school due to the economic crisis.

However, data from the city's social and political affairs directorate says that 60,000 children aged between seven and 15 were too poor to attend school last year.

Masrul said that BP3, which determines various fees for new students, was only allowed to conduct a meeting two weeks after school started on July 17.

He added that the association should not become a "rubber stamp" for schools wanting their policies approved. "That's why school elements should not be too dominant in the management," he said.

Masrul also said that the 1999/2000 city budget had set aside scholarships for 10,000 elementary school students from poor families, with each receiving Rp 120,000 a year.

The scholarships will be granted especially to those attending sixth grade, so that they can receive diplomas, and first graders from poor subdistricts in the city.

According to Masrul, the number of poor districts have jumped from 36 before the economic crisis struck in 1997 to 75 at present.

Separately, head of the city office of the Ministry of Education and Culture Alwi Nurdin stressed that based on a newly released gubernatorial decree, elementary school students were exempt from admission fees.

New junior and high school students are obliged pay Rp 3,500 and Rp 4,000 respectively for registration.

Alwi also said that this year 18,600 out of 100,000 elementary school graduates could not be accommodated at state junior high schools.

"We have channeled them to private junior high schools as there are still 60,000 seats available," he said.

The administration set aside 10 percent of the seats at state junior high schools for students from Greater Jakarta. (ind)