Students to pay lower tuition fees

Students to pay lower tuition fees

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Elementary and junior high school students who are from low-
income families will pay lower school fees as of January as the
city administration and central government plan to subsidize
their education.

The subsidy from the administration will total 520 billion
(US$50 million), while the central government has earmarked Rp
107.9 billion as part of its commitment to improving the welfare
of the city's poor made after the fuel price increase.

Deputy speaker of the City Council Achmad Heriyawan said here
on Wednesday that the council's budgetary team was finalizing the
allocation of the subsidy given to elementary schools and junior
high schools for the 2006 budget.

"The allocations we have discussed are almost final. But,
there is the possibility that the allocations will be higher than
the current budget for education," said Heriyawan, who is also a
member of City Council's budgetary commission, on Wednesday.

He estimated that the assistance given to every elementary
school student from a low-income family would amount to Rp 69,500
per month, or Rp 835,000 per year. The figure is much higher than
the allocation for this year's subsidy of Rp 19,000 a month, or
Rp 235,000 a year.

Junior high school students from low-income families would be
allocated Rp 68,700, or Rp 824,500 per year, as compared to Rp
27,000 per month this year, or Rp 324,500 for the whole year of
2005.

"Those (poor) students still have to shoulder the remainder of
their tuition fees, but of course the fees will be lower than
what they pay now," he said.

"Should the subsidy allocation be the same as the fees charged
by a school, or higher than the fees, we hope the students will
be educated for free," he said.

Councillor Arkeno said that the council would require the
administration to prepare a detailed budget for every school in
the capital before agreeing to the proposed subsidy.

"Basically, we agree with the concept but we must ensure that
the right people benefit from the assistance," he emphasized.

City Elementary Education Agency head Sylviana Murni could not
immediately be reached for comment.

Head of the people's welfare division with the City Planning
Body (Bapeda) Tuty Kusumawati said that school principals
together with school boards were responsible for ensuring that
poor students were the beneficiaries of the fund.

The school board could use the money for day-to-day
educational activities, like for exams, office equipment,
application forms and the pay of substitute teachers.

"However, the central government has issued guidelines to stop
schools from using the money for other things," she said.

According to her, the money could not be used for things that
were not directly in the student's interests, such as paying
staff bonuses or extending school buildings.

She said that schools were obliged to report on the use of the
funds every three months in accordance with the guidelines from
the central government.