State still fails to provide free basic education

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Though the government promised to provide free basic education for all school-age children across the country starting this year, most schools are still making new students pay an "entrance fee".

The director of Paramadina University's Center for Education, Reform Hutomo Danangjaya, said that according to his observations most, if not all, schools in the country were demanding what they called "contributions for building maintenance" or "voluntary fees" from the parents of new students.

"In fact, public elementary schools and junior high schools are the most enthusiastic about asking for money from their new students. This shows that the program to provide free basic education is not working," he told The Jakarta Post.

Many parents have complained that they are required to pay between Rp 200,000 and millions of rupiah for building maintenance and voluntary fees when they enroll their children at state elementary schools and junior high schools.

Article 31 of the Constitution requires the state to provide education for all citizens. It also requires the state to provide at least 20 percent of its annual budget for education.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently vowed to ensure the nine-year compulsory education was free for all students.

For that purpose, the government increased its education budget to Rp 24.6 trillion, or 9.29 percent of the 2005 state budget, from Rp 18.4 trillion, or 6.5 percent of last year's total budget. The House of Representatives also approved Rp 6.27 trillion in additional funds to provide an education for children of low-income families.

The government has estimated that one year of school costs Rp 235,000 per elementary school student and Rp 324,500 for each junior high school student.

Under the nine-year free basic education program, the government will disburse funds to each state school based on the above estimate of the cost of education. And schools are required to accept all students without charging them fees. Private schools are free to choose whether to participate in the program. If they apply for state funds, they are not allowed to charge entrance fees.

Hutomo said state schools did not need any additional building maintenance funds because they already had well-maintained buildings.

"For years, the schools collected money from students for building maintenance. The government paid the teachers' salaries and the students bought the books and uniforms themselves. So what is the building maintenance fee for?" he asked.

Hutomo said state schools played a vital role in the national education system as they accounted for 85 percent of all schools in the country.

He proposed that the government audit public schools to find out whether they were using their state funds properly.

While agreeing with Hutomo, noted education expert Suparman said the government must conduct a study to see how much money schools really required to cover their operational costs before deciding how much funds to disburse to each school.

"We never know how much a school needs to cover its expenses. Several schools in Tangerang, for instance, require their students to pay Rp 50,000 per month, but we do not know whether they really need that much," he told the Post.

A recent survey of poor families by the International Labor Organization found that elementary school students had to pay an average of Rp 374,225 in total annual education fees. A junior high school student pays twice that amount.

Hutomo and Suparman called on the government to order all schools to return the money they had collected from students' parents this year.