Schools continue to collect fees

JAKARTA: The Ministry of National Education acknowledged it had received numerous complaints about schools continuing to collect fees from students despite the disbursement of government funds.

The director general for elementary and secondary education at the ministry, Suyanto, said on Thursday several people had also complained about schools misusing the operational support funds from the government.

The government has disbursed operational funds to selected schools to help offset the impact of the fuel price increases. Since August of this year, some Rp 5.1 trillion (about US$508 million) has been disbursed for elementary schools and junior high schools, and another Rp 1.7 trillion for high schools.

The ministry recently opened a hot line for people to call in and report any misuses of the government assistance. -- Antara