'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)