Schools continue to collect fees

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