'Unregistered school closures not simple'

'Unregistered school closures not simple'

JAKARTA (JP): A suggestion to close down unregistered private
technical schools must consider the interests of students, an
educator and legislator said yesterday.

J. Drost, former principle of the private Kanisius Senior High
School, said unregistered schools should be changed into other
types of high schools.

"Where are students supposed to get an education if their
schools are closed?" he asked.

Meanwhile member of the House of Representatives Sukowaluyo
Mintorahardjo of the Commission IX for education said the
government should survey the schools before closing them.

The observers were commenting on a recent warning to
management of unregistered technical schools by the director
general of basic and middle education, Zaenal Arifin Achmady.

Zaenal called on the Ministry of Education and Culture's city
office to take steps against such schools.

He said the school management told students to sit for final
examinations at registered schools.

Drost, also a lecturer at Atmajaya Catholic University, said
closing unregistered technical schools would also mean closing
the foundations that ran them.

Announcing measures to immediately close down these schools
only serves as a warning to their various managements to correct
their conduct, he said.

Drost said only the police or the attorney's office could
close schools.

Both Sukowaluyo and Drost said it was important students were
not placed at a disadvantage.

Sukowaluyo said the survey of unregistered schools should also
take into account the capacity of registered schools to receive
the transferred students. The process should be gradual to avoid
harming student interests, he said.

A gradual transfer would enable many, particularly third
graders, to complete their studies, Sukowaluyo suggested.

Drost said unregistered schools at least provided a place to
study for students who might not be accepted by other schools.

However, technical schools should be changed into general high
schools or vocational schools, which need less investment;
running technical schools was much more costly, he said.

According to data from the Ministry's city office only 37 of
107 privately-run technical schools have adequate equipment.

Drost acknowledged students in poor schools could never study
seriously.

He also said school managements were often only interested in
their student's money, rather than their education.

Unconfirmed reports suggested students of unregistered
technical schools were notoriously involved in brawling.

The Education and Culture Ministry said brawls in the city
mostly involve students of 50 senior high schools, 40 of which
are privately-owned technical high schools. (07)