Rethinking tuition fees

During the recent new school year, we read two interesting but converse reports. The first was news about an outstanding achievement of five Indonesian students at the International Physics Olympiad in South Korea.

While we are glad to hear news about the success of the five high school students in the world forum, we are sad to read the disheartening reports that many parents could not afford to put their children in the right schools.

Though an old and classic issue, it has complicated the already gloomy picture of our education system, namely low standards, the high number of drop-outs and a huge disparity in education quality between one area and another.

Even entering a government school is not as easy for many children now as it was 20 years ago. Being smart is not enough to get a seat as public schools charge various fees, the cumulative amount of which is high.

In a welcome sign, public high schools in the suburbs and inner cities have adopted a transparent and credible admission process, but this does not mean the door is open for the aspirants. The last and no less important requirement is money.

Many top public schools in Jakarta -- junior and senior high schools -- set admission fees ranging from Rp 2 million (US$220) to Rp 8 million, compared to between Rp 8 million and Rp 20 million fees for private schools. Popular junior and senior high schools in Depok, a suburb south of Jakarta, charge Rp 1.5 million to Rp 2.5 million for each new student. But in actuality the cost for parents is almost double that as they have to buy new text books and uniforms.

The Ministry of National Education said recently 12 million of around 52 million students of elementary, junior high and senior high schools in the country had problems in paying admission and tuition fees.

So far the government has provided scholarships for only 8.1 million students. The budgetary problems, which occurred after the 1998 crisis, have also been blamed for the poor condition of 50 percent of 500,000 classrooms at the public elementary schools in the country.

The tuition fees at Indonesian public schools is low compared to other countries, but it is extremely high for Indonesians amid abject poverty, unemployment and the declining value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

Private schools are often out of the question for many people of the low and middle-income groups.

In order to help solve the budgetary problems, the Ministry of National Education issued Decree No. 044/2002 on the establishment of education councils and school committees. Both the council and the committee are independent bodies, set up to give advice and support to the government on education as well as to monitor education programs in their respective areas.

Article 6 of the decree stipulates that the committee help the government gather funds to finance the operation of the schools.

In middle-class areas in big cities and suburbs where people's income and awareness about the importance of education is higher, the response of the public to the government's appeal has been positive. Most top public schools saw the public funds cover more than 90 percent of the school budget.

The increase in the public's share in the public school budget is favorable news, but the reliance on private individuals is not without risk as it can marginalize the poor, who are still dependent on public schools.

If this continues to happen the mission of public schools of equality and democratization will suffer.

There must be a fair share between the public and the government in school funding. In this regard school committees should be given the power to draft a school's budget with the school management and supervise the implementation to minimize inefficiency and corruption.

Needless to say that the country is still mired in crisis, but it is high time for the government to gradually raise the budget for education from the current 3.49 percent to a 20 percent ceiling as stipulated in the Constitution.

Nine years of mandatory education launched by the government in 1994 also necessitates that the state allocate more funds for education.

If the state can spend Rp 144.5 trillion for Bank Indonesia liquidity support loans (BLBI) to salvage banks owned by corrupt tycoons, why can it not make the same effort for education if we really care about human resources development.