School 'donations' may be capped

School 'donations' may be capped

JAKARTA: The City Council has said it would propose that
Governor Sutiyoso revoke Decree No. 643/1995 in order to limit
the amount of money collected by schools from parents.

"The Council's Commission E has agreed to recommend the
revocation of the gubernatorial decree on the guideline of the
Education Implementation Assisting Board (BP3)," said Audi
Tambunan, secretary of the commission, recently.

He said the revocation proposal was in response to complaints
by the public that the board raised huge amounts of "obligatory
donations" from new students.

Similar grievances were also aired during a meeting of the
Commission E, when the recommendation was agreed.

The proposal also followed the fact that the BP3 in question
was already replaced by the School Committee, but the decree,
which is used as a guideline for the committee's operations, is
still in force.

Under the decree, the donations collected from new students
are determined on the basis of agreements between schools and the
School Committee.

It excludes the role of the Jakarta elementary and higher
education office in the agreements, prompting schools to collect
donations from parents in term of amounts without consulting or
negotiating with city officials.

"There should be a maximum amount that can be raised from
parents. Related authorities should be put in charge of dealing
all aspects of the arrangement too," another Commission E member
Syamsidar Siregar said. --Antara