School expenses burden parents

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A recent investigation conducted by the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) revealed that parents are still being burdened by various school fees for their children attending elementary school.

Head of ICW's public service monitoring division Ade Irawan said on Monday that his organization had undertaken surveys and interviews at 50 city elementary schools.

"We found that parents are being hit with 38 kinds of school fees," Ade told journalists after meeting with Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall on Monday.

The extra fees are for extracurricular activities, examinations, sports, and also for teachers' weddings.

However, he did not mention the amount that each parent had to fork out in fees.

The watchdog also found that up to 10 percent of schools in Jakarta, including high schools, bribed officials in education offices in each municipality in order to minimize supervision of academic activities and financial issues.

"Each school pays up to 5 percent of their annual budget of Rp 1 billion (US$103,000) to bribe officials," Ade added.

Other important finding was the power wielded by school headmasters who fully control both financial and academic issues without clear control mechanisms.

"A situation like this is prone lead to corruption," Ade said.

The survey found that school committees do not work effectively in controlling school management, often acting as mere rubber stamps for headmasters.

Sutiyoso welcomed the ICW report, saying that he would ask city education agencies to follow up on it. He also promised tough measures against any of those involved in corruption.

"I invite other non-governmental organizations to conduct such investigations," he added.