Students must spend savings to sit exams

Students must spend savings to sit exams

Elementary schools in Bekasi have been forced to use
students' savings to fund final exams because the local
government has not paid the money it promised to.

Yuyu Yulianti, principal of state elementary school SDN
Jatibening XI, said the school had used the students' savings and
the school's education fund for the organization of the six days
of exams, which cost about Rp 400,000.

The money was needed to pay various expenses, including the
fee for teachers who supervise the exams and mark the students'
work, and to make copies of the exam material.

Principle of SDN Jatimakmur I in Pondok Gede, Sudarningsih,
said that her school also spent Rp 450,000 from students' savings
accounts and the school's education fund.

A member of the Bekasi council's Commission E overseeing
education, Syafrudin, said that the Bekasi municipal
administration had allocated Rp 1.1 billion from its 2002 budget
to fund the exams.

Syafrudin would not comment when asked why the money had not
reached the schools or say how many students had sat the test.

"What's important is that the exams were held smoothly and
there was no leakage of the material," he said. --Antara